My little Halo:Friendship is Tactical
by palpatine213
Summary: Master chief awakens to find a forerunner planet, but events take a strange turn, as the arbiter arrives and the two friends are stranded on a planet of, ponies?
1. a slip in slipspace

note: so, I was going around reading some halo crossovers, and i thought why doesn't anyone make Master Chief a pony? so, that gave me an idea, but it really wasn't until watching the Halo 4 trailer, that I had a good idea for an opening.

spoiler: sgt. Johnsen comes back to life as a pony! yay! How? you may ask, well it kinda goes a little like this *ahem* its magic, so I don't gotta explain shit. :)

but don't worry, I have plenty of other surprises in store for everypony (insert evil laugh here) trust me this is gonna be good.

mini note: for those of you that are eagerly expecting chapter 3 of odd one out, i have some bad news, well you see, spike was visiting a few days ago, and i accidently let him drink a gallon of sparkling water, and he may have sort of sent my notebook to Celestia. since it's way to big to send back, I'm gonna have to wait a while until derpy brings it back. (audience uses flutterstare) umm...LOOK MUFFINS! (teleports away). But seriously though, I'll get on that, eventually. Oh wow, I did ramble on, well anyway, here is ch1

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><p><strong>Ch.1: A slip in slipspace<strong>

"What is that?" asked the chief, staring at the giant forerunner structure looming ahead.

"I have no idea," replied Cortana, the A.I. construct in his head. The structure emitted a beam of light and began to draw the ship in.

The Master chief braced himself against the bulkhead, preparing for impact. Then, the unexpected happened.

"Slipspace rupture detected," announced Cortana.

Suddenly a Covenant carrier emerged from slipspace, directly in front of the half-frigate. The Chief bristled for a moment, but relaxed slightly as a familiar voice crackled over his helmet radio. "Spartan, is that you? What is your status?" inquired the Arbiter from shipmaster's position on the bridge.

"Affirmative. Status is green." replied the Chief's gravelly voice over the radio.

"Hang on, lowering hangar shields," replied the Arbiter, entering a few commands into the computer. The shield lowered, and the frigate suffered a less than spectacular landing inside the hangar.

The shields rose, and atmosphere hissed into the bay. "Thanks for the rescue, now let's get out of here," said the Chief, crawling out from under the wreckage.

"New contacts slipping in," interrupted Cortana. Five covenant cruisers emerged from slipspace behind the super carrier. The lead ship transmitted, "This is the second holy Jiralhanae fleet of redemption, Arbiter, we know you have the demon aboard, strip him of his armor and turn him over to us and we'll consider letting you flee like a dog with your tail between your legs."

"No," growled the Arbiter in response.

"Very well then, all ships fire at will, what a great day for use, wipe you two off the face of the universe, and plunder this holy relic. We truly must thank you demon." With that, he cut off transmission. The ships behind the carrier opened fire, their pulse lasers lighting up the hanger as they whizzed past.

"Get us out of here now!" cried Cortana.

"Transitioning now," replied the Arbiter, pressing the execute button. This turned out to be a very bad move, because at that moment, the frigate's severely damaged slipspace drive decided to overload.

"Run!" screamed Cortana, and the chief bolted for the hanger doors, only slowing down to pick up five duffel bags that had come lose from the frigate's weapons locker. He made it through and shut the door behind him as lightning began to envelop the hanger.

Dashing through the hallways, he reached the bridge in record time. The chief nodded at the Arbiter, before being filled with dread at the sight visible on the forward cameras. A giant portal, not unlike the one opened on earth, had appeared in front of the super carrier. There was barely enough time to gasp, as the ship was sucked through and everything outside went black.

"So, what happened?" asked the Chief, sitting down near a bulkhead. "Well, it seems that the conflicting slipspace energies due to the overloading engine, combined with the proximity to forerunner technology, may have created a portal" replied Cortana, "But the real question is, Where to?"

They were interrupted by the Arbiter who announced that they were emerging from slipspace. Directly in front of their ship, was a pristine planet, covered in blue and green, like earth, but out of a story book, before industry had taken over.

He shook his head, not now, another time, another place, but not here, he scolded himself. His train of thought was interrupted by Cortana who announced, "Planet is habitable, earth normal gravity, air, and temperature."

"Navigational controls are offline," added the Arbiter, "and our current trajectory indicates a crash landing on the planet below."

Master Chief made one of his quick minded decisions he was known for, and had saved blue teams hide more than once. "Everyone into the escape pods, hurry, there's no point staying on this hunk of metal," he said, as he climbed into a pod, holding the duffel bags against his chest. "Hurry up," he added, closing the hatch.

The Arbiter followed, and climbed into his own escape pod. The two pods launched, two small streaks, against the fireball above. As they entered the atmosphere, the chief felt a burning sensation.

"Alert, unknown radiation detected," warned Cortana. The chief gritted his teeth, and tried to hang on, but in the end, the radiation overpowered him, and caused him to black out.

John regained consciousness on the ground, his first instinct was to spring up and check for threats, but the burning pain in his body told him it would be a better idea to play dead and observe. Carefully opening his eyes, he looked around, his head staying motionless. Around him he could see green fields and could feel the sun shining on his skin. John heard a grunt, and a shape fell from the Arbiter's pod nearby.

John's soldier training kicked in, and time slowed as he analyzed his situation, his armor was missing, which meant that he was practically naked. The Arbiter was alive but possibly wounded, and to top it off, there didn't seem to be anyone around. He decided to take action, springing up into a combat ready pose.

Or, well, he tried to. After a few seconds, he fell down on all fours, only being able to stand up for a few seconds. Dismissing the event due to lack of balance from the crash, he looked around for his armor. "Cortana?" he asked, "where are you?" There was no answer, so the chief looked around for something else he could use to protect himself temporarily.

Spotting a shiny plate of metal lying on the ground, he approached it to check himself over for wounds. He reached the mirror, looked at his reflection, and froze. This can't be right, he thought, I'm just seeing things. Looking down, he looked at himself and froze; his eyes confirmed the mirrors. John looked at his reflection again, and all his years of military training could not stop three words from escaping his mouth, "What, the, fuck?"


	2. old friends, new forms

Sorry it took so long to get this done everypony, I was really busy finishing stuff up for summer. But now, to quote Equestria Daily, "summer is here! Its pony time!"

Thats right, with more free time on my hands, expect more chapters.

p.s. Everypony kept asking me if Cortana was going to be in it, my answer: Of course, why in the world would I not put cortana in there. although I bet no one saw the alicorn part coming. :) end of rant.

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><p>Ch.2: Old friends, New forms<p>

John stared at his reflection, "Okay," he thought, "I'm a pony now."

He examined his new body, he was a light green stallion, the same color as his armor, he had a sandy blond, crew cut mane, and along his forelegs, he could see his augmented muscles rippling. Turning to the side, he noticed a mark on his left rear flank. The forerunner symbol for Reclaimer was clearly stamped there. His hands and feet had become hooves, but they were also green, and seemed to be made of a form of extremely hardened flesh, rather than bone.

He heard a groan coming from the Arbiters pod, and saw a dark grey pony regaining consciousness. John figured that this pony must be the Arbiter, and moved to see what he looked like. Upon closer examination of the Arbiter, the chief was surprised to find a pair of feathered wings tucked against the Arbiter's sides. The Arbiter opened his eyes and gave him a quizzical look. "Spartan?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me Arbiter," responded John, "It appears that we have both been transformed into ponies."

The Arbiter grunted and shakily stood on his new legs. John was now able to get a good look at his companion's new form. The dark grey stallion had a light brown mane, matching the color of his combat harness before. The Arbiter's flank mark was the covenant mark of shame. Wow, I guess that mark stays through everything, John thought. "It looks like you are a Pegasus, Arbiter." John remarked.

The Arbiter responded with a confused look. "A pony with wings," John explained. The Arbiter noticed the wings at his sides, and was momentarily fascinated.

Secretly, he had always dreamed of flight without any need for machines, he envied the Yamnee's ability to fly, and was overjoyed that he now had the chance to do the same.

Still exhausted after the crash, John used his hooves to push away his mane's bangs which had been stuck to dried blood on his forehead, and had been getting in his eyes.

"It appears that you are a horse with a horn, Spartan," said the Arbiter looking at him. John returned to the mirror. Indeed, his bangs had covered a light green horn, now protruding from his forehead.

"And I guess I'm a unicorn," he muttered, wishing he had Cortana to help explain this.

He looked back towards the Arbiter, who had figured out how to extend his wings and was attempting to take off. John watched for a few seconds, but was distracted by a groan from behind his pod, and heard a familiar voice say, "John?"

John quickly walked around the pod, and gasped at the sight he saw. Standing in front of him, was a light blue unicorn/pegasus mare, whose mane and tail shimmered with binary numbers. "Cortana?" he asked.

She nodded, "What the hell is going on here?" she replied, "Why are we all ponies? Where is your armor? And why am I not a hologram?"

"I have no idea," replied John, looking at the horizon he added, "I think I see smoke coming over that hill. Smoke means civilization, and civilization, hopefully means answers."

He turned to go in the direction of the smoke, but was stopped dead, when he saw a flash of light behind him, and heard a dead man's voice say "Chief, I thought I told you to leave me."


	3. Once more unto the breach

sorry for the long wait everypony, I posted the last chapter right before traveling to russia.

fun fact: it is insanely difficult to find an open Wi-fi terminal in Russia, which is why I havent posted updates.

Chapter three was actually the second half of chapter 2 which is why that chapter was so short.

Now, I ask for your input on two things. I would like to know: Who should be the enemy, Covenant (no covie into ponies) or flood? In addition, should I give Halo Wars elements such as MC and Arbiter living in a firebase? please review or PM me your thoughts.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: once more unto the breach<strong>

"Johnson?" asked John, turning around and looking at the brown pony that had just appeared.

"Yeah, it's me," it replied. Looking around, it added, "Chief, where are you, all I see are three ponies in front of me. Are we on a pony farm or something?" The pony looked at John, "and why is this one green, and is that a horn?"

"Yes Johnson, it is," replied John, reaching out a hoof to help the other pony up.

Johnson stared at the hoof for a moment, then looked up at John, confusion written on his face. "Chief?" he asked, "Is that you?"

John sighed, "Yes, we are all ponies now, and no, we don't know why."

"Wait, all of us," Johnson looked down at his new pony body, "What the hell!" he cried springing up on his new legs. As Johnson spun around, looking himself over, John was able to get a good look at him. Johnson apparently had neither horn nor wings, making him the most normal of the four; in addition, he had the UNSC logo stamped on his flanks.

Once Johnson had calmed down, and had accepted the current situation, the four ponies began to plan their next move.

"Alright," said Cortana, beginning the session, "There is smoke coming up from over that hill, which could possibly mean civilization."

"But how could ponies create a civilization?" interrupted Johnson, "They don't even have fingers."

"It is possible, that these are not the ponies we know of, but a different species of pony, possibly sentient," explained Cortana, "Since our mental facilities haven't degraded from being transformed to ponies, they are physically capable of high levels of intelligence. In addition, it seems our muzzles have retained the ability to speak English, showing an ability to form a complex language. So we can safely assume that they are intelligent."

"Okay, so we've established some sort of intel, now on to equipment," said Johnson, moving the meeting forward.

"I've recovered four duffel bags from the frigate's weapons bay, before we escaped the carrier. Although I'm not sure how we can use our weapons without fingers," said John.

"Our mouths seem to have a high level of dexterity, so I'm guessing that's how we hold things," replied Johnson, walking over to the duffel bags and opening one with his muzzle. He stuck his head inside and rummaged around in the bag.

When he pulled his head out, he was wearing his signature Sargent's cap, and had a sweet William cigar in his mouth. John opened his mouth to ask how he just did that, but decided against it.

"Okay, so we have MA5Bs, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, covenant weaponry, and a load of other experimental equipment the frigate was carrying. It's a good thing these bags were outfitted with slipspace compression technology, or I don't know how we could have fit all of the equipment into five bags. I think we have more ordenance here than we had on the first Halo."

"Okay, our equipment checks out," said John, slinging a bag over his neck while the others did the same. "Let's move out." He looked back and noticed the Arbiter was not with the group.

Turning back, he found the Arbiter behind one of the escape pods. He had retrieved an energy sword from his bag, figured out how to activate it with his mouth, and was currently practicing with it, using his mouth to hold the sword. Noticing John, he extinguished the sword, and tucked it away behind one of his wings.

"Well, we now have offensive capability," remarked John, as the four companions began the march towards civilization, and hopefully, answers.


	4. In other news

Author's note: Hey there everypony, I'm back! Sorry about the long wait, (somepony even offered me candy in exchange for an update) but I was really busy doing stuff, and on top of that, I challenged Celestia to a game of Halo, and won. (She is crazy good with a splazer) So, as a reward, she banished me to the moon. Since the moon has no internet, or computers, it was hard getting an update out. Luckily, Luna lent a helping hoof, and I got back!

So, this chapter is focused around the ponies reaction to current events, along with some foreshadowing. Oh, by the way, I went with covie-ponies, but only the grunts will become ponies. Anyway, I want to give a shout out to michael blackburn and The Last Pie Lover. I'm glad to see that pony halo is gathering steam. Great job on your story, blackburn, and looking forward to see what you have in store Lover.

p.s: for those of you waiting for odd one out, I have some bad news, I'm currently at a part that I originally didn't write very well, so it may take a while to update that.

Spoiler!: Next chapter includes a rather short battle with Chief,Johnsen,and the Arbiter, vs. RainbowDash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Advantage:Fluttershy! :P

Uh oh, I see a very angry Celestia outside the window. Quick Luna, Run!

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><p>Ch.4 : in other news...<p>

Now what in tarnation is this? exclaimed Applejack, her eyes widening.

"Ooh, ooh, let me see!" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing out of the trees into the clearing. Upon seeing what AJ was referring to, she stopped mid-bounce, and stared, her mouth dropping open.

"Girls, wait for me." called Twilight Sparkle, catching up to the other two ponies. "Oh wow," she said, also frozen in amazment once she saw the object in question. Her mind began to wander, as she recalled the events leading up to this moment.

A few hours ago, there had been a giant fireball that roared across the sky above Ponyville, and had crashed, with a deafening boom, in the Everfree forest. It was then followed by two smaller streaks that had landed in the fields on the opposite side of Ponyville.

Princess Celestia, had sent a letter to Twilight almost immediately. In the letter, the princess said that the objects were not of Equestria, or the planet. From her viewpoint high in the sky, the princess had told her that the length of the object was massive, it stretched from one end of the everfree forest, to the other. The princess had instructed her and her friends, to investigate both the large object, and the two smaller ones, in order to see if there was any sign of life inside, and whether they were friendly, or hostile.

She described a large hole in the object, near Ponyville, that she suggested they enter through. The six friends had decided to split up, Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie would investigate the large object, while Rainbow dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity would investigate the small objects.

Now, Twilight was standing at the edge of the giant gash the object had made in the forest while plowing it's way through the ground. She gazed in wonderment at it's collosal size. Taking a few tentative steps closer, she examined the material it was made of.

The material was definetely not native to Equestria, and seemed almost organic, as if the structure had been grown, not built, although for all Twilight knew, it could have been grown.

Twilight briefly fantasized about studying this material, unlocking its secrets, then presenting it to princess Celestia and becoming the youngest unicorn ever to win the equestrian industry award.

Thinking about the princess, brought Twilight back to the present, and reminded her of their mission."Lets go girls," she said, snapping them all out of their stupor, "We have a job to to." The three ponies began to gallop in the direction the princess said the hole was.

After an hour of hard galloping, they reached the opening the princess had mentioned. The area inside the hole seemed to have been very large, and had three stories of balconies ringing the edge of it. Unfortunately, the ship's crash landing had caused the room to be mostly filled with dirt, creating a nice ramp, but limiting acess to the third floor.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight began to climb the ramp, gulping as she entered the alien structure. The other ponies followed her, casting furtive glances around the room. The ponies reached the third floor, and began to search for ways further into the ship, as Twilight had decided to call it. The search along the upper floor yeilded little results, Twilight found several structures that resembled doorways, but not even her mighty telekinesis could force them open.

There seemed little hope for gaining entrance, and Twilight was about to give up hope, when Pinkie Pie's voice came from the far side of the room "Twilight, come here, I think I found something". Twilight galloped as fast as she could towards her friend. When she reached her, Applejack was already patiently waiting for her.

Twilight looked at Pinkie's find, one of the door like structures. Unlike the others, however, this one had a translucent square faintly glowing blue in the center of it. Twilight carefully approached the square, then jumped in surprise as it pulsed once, and the door slid open into four parts, each one smoothly retracting into the frame.

"Ah reckon this is our way in?" asked Applejack, looking at the hallway beyond the door. Twilight nodded, and speechlessly made her way down the hall, Pinkie and AJ falling in line behind her.

After what seemed like an endless series of twists and turns, the ponies arrived at another door. Upon opening it, the ponies gasped at the sight they beheld. An enormous room lay beyond, in the center was a large platform, seemingly suspended in the air by nothing more than a small ramp leading to it from the floor.

"What is this place?" wondered Twilight, out loud.

"Bridge," said Pinkie Pie, staring at a collection of symbols on a wall near them.

"What?" asked Twilight, walking up next to Pinkie.

"The symbols say bridge" explained Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked at the symbols, they reminded her of equestrian writing, but they were different, warped was the best way she could describe it.

Unfortunately, Pinkie couldn't translate any of the other words, so the ponies entered the room, and walked up the ramp, onto the platform. "Lets look for some sign of where the makers of this ship are located," instructed Twilight. As pinkie and AJ searched the perimeter of the room, Twilight decided to search the platform. She proceded towards the center of it, her eyes looking for the faintest clue. What she didn't see, was the faint circle of blue light on the center of the platform. Eyes everywhere but beneath her hooves, Twilight stepped into the circle.

Suddenly, the room was ablaze with light. The platform was suddenly ringed with pictures and diagrams. "Holograms," whispered Twilight, in awe. She had seen things like this before, light manipulated in such a way, as to see an image in the air. But these illusions were very basic, or required magic to produce them, these projections were made without magic, due to the lack of other unicorns in the room, but were incredibly advanced. She tentatively reached out a hoof, and touched a square that was flashing green.

"wort wort wort , honk honk wort honk-", a alien voice sounded in the air, causing Twilight to shriek in surprise. The voice continued to babble as she contemplated what to do. Suddenly it dawned on her, a universal language spell.

The spell had been developed recently, and although highly effective at translating writing and speech, had been deemed pointless due to equestrian being the global language, and was only popular with ponies who liked to talk to animals. She cast the spell on herself, and her friends, who had run up beside her. The voice took on a new meaning. "wort wort wort *bzzt* -eacon activated, main power restored, engines offline, weapons offline, shields offline. Danger, hull integrity at six percent. Welcome shipmaster, boot sequence complete." Twilight had no idea what any of this meant, weapons? as in lethal weapons? She couldn't believe her ears.

Twilight decided to focus on the holograms, which, she guessed, were control panels of some sort. She could understand most of it, but some words didn't make sense. Prophet, Forerunner, Covenant, UNSC, slipspace, Reclaimer, and Halo.

This word, Halo was repeated in many places. It seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite make sense of it. She tried to think nothing of it, but something nagged at her, the word seemed familiar somehow, like she saw it somewhere else. She searched her memories, and found what she was looking for.

When she and her friends had first reached the Elements of Harmony, she had noticed an inscription on the base of their holder that had been written in the same dialect that she saw here. With her spell translating the writing, she read it as "Shall the might of Halo, our creation and our curse, be unleashed upon the galaxy without cause, we place here, on our ancestral home, six keys, to be used if this comes to be. To be carried by six worthy beings to, with the help of a reclaimer, unlock Halo's gift, and extinguish it's fire."

"What in tarnation are you blabbering about Twilight?" asked Applejack.

Twilight realized that she had been thinking aloud, and blushed, responding with "Nothing, lets keep looking." Turning her attention to the displays, one of them caught her eye. "Emergency escape pods launched," it read.

Twilight gasped, the aliens must have used those escape pods to leave the ship before it crashed. "Quick girls," she said, galloping towards the door the had come from, "The aliens are in the two objects that landed in the fields, and I have a bad feeling that they might not be friendly".

Meanwhile, in sector of space far, far away..

"Shipmaster," cried a brute looking up from his communications console, "We have recieved an automated distress beacon from the Sword of Salvation, the ship the heretics escaped on.

The Chieftan smiled, "Find the source and inform the rest of the fleet," he barked. The officer quickly went back to work. The chieftan looked at the viewscreen as the fleet changed course, and prepared for slipspace jump. He recalled a saying he had learned while interepting human communications, "Ready or not spartan," he whispered, "Here I come".


	5. Rainbow Crash

Hi everypony! guess what? Another update! yay.

why so soon? (compared to last time) well, I was sitting around,reading pony and being addicted to lets play videos, when i realized that school started next week. so, i went into hyper-panic mode and began typing. (on a related note; MLP season 2 starts september 17th! BUCK YEAH!)

by the way, i might get the next chapter up fairly soon, due to being in panic mode, but, typing this much is really taxing on my horn, so there may be a delay. spoiler: here is the plot for next chapter (takes deep breath then says plot extremely fast) there, now if you have any doubts, just remember what i said in slow motion.

Before I forget, be on the look out for a certain jet black unicorn pony wandering around, in the future, it is none other than your's truly. I'll be going around helping tweak the plot (sort of 4th wall mailpony), based off of your suggestions, maybe, who knows.

finally the epic show down between rainbow and arbiter. also, explanation for the changes in John's behavior.

huh? oh, okay. Luna says hi to you all, we're currently in an underground safe room. Celestia has been clawing at the door for all this time, luckily she can't get in (turns out alinium is impervious to alicorn magic, who would have guessed) In case you don't know, Celestia can hold a grudge for up to 1,000 years. But i'll be ok when John and Co. get here. I hired Mendez to draw Celestia out of town for the duration. In payment, he wants to sleep with Cortana. *sigh* that's gonna be one akward conversation.

What Luna? There's an Alicorn sized air vent here? Well, Hay. Sorry everypony, got to end my extremely long and rambling commentary here, while I go and fill that up.

p.s: if you don't know who mendez is, read micheal blackburn's story the battle for equestria haloMLP parody or, the character intros in his sequel, Fight For Equestria: friendship is firepower

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Rainbow Crash<strong>

"Come on, just a little bit farther Cortana", said John, looking back. "I don't think I can make it", panted Cortana, struggling to walk up the hill. "You're exhausted already? We only walked like 800 feet. You are really out of shape", said Johnson, holding up a hoof to hide his grin. "I've had a physical body for less than a day, so excuse my lack of exercise," she replied, her voice dripping with malice. "Sorry," replied Johnson, "Looks like I hit a nerve, I'm sure John would carry you, but it looks like you've gained a little weight." "When I get my hooves on you," threatened Cortana. "Enough!" interrupted John, "I know being ponies is weird for all of us, but we're professionals, so it's time we started acting like ones." Cortana and Johnson nodded, and, after motioning the Arbiter to hang back with the main group, John crested the top of the hill, and stopped, shocked at what he saw. The source of the smoke was a village, bright and colorful, that stood next to a river. He turned his head back to the others to inform them of this, when a sound in front of him caused him to quickly swing his head back around, and yelp in surprise. Hovering inches from his face, was a sky blue pegasus pony, with a rainbow mane and red eyes. "Hi there," it said in a tomboyish female voice. "Umm, hello," replied John uncertainly, while making the Spartan gesture for hide, with his back hoof to the others. "I'm Rainbow Dash," she said, "the coolest pony in Ponyville. I haven't seen you around before, what's your name?" "John," he replied, noticing two more ponies walking up behind Rainbow Dash, a pink maned, yellow pegasus, and a purple maned, white unicorn. "That's a weird name. Anyway, we're looking for some aliens that crashed around here, have you seen anything suspicious?" asked Rainbow dash. "No, we haven't," replied John, knowing who she meant by aliens, "Now if you'll excuse me, my companions and I need to get going." He turned around and whistled the all clear signal he had taught his companions earlier. Johnson and the Arbiter exited their hiding spots and trotted up to John. The new ponies didn't give much of a reaction upon seeing them; however, once Cortana came into view, the situation began to unravel.

"Nightmare Moon!" yelled Rainbow Dash, upon seeing Cortana. Before anypony could react, she had taken off, streaking towards Cortana like a missile. Cortana's eyes widened, too shocked to move, as the rainbow colored blur flew towards her. At the last second however, the Arbiter launched himself in Rainbow Dash's way, tackling her, and sending them both sprawling to the ground. The two pegasi got up off the ground, their eyes narrowing as they glared at each other. Rainbow Dash took off into the air, followed by the Arbiter. The two circled each other, mid-air as the other ponies watched. Rainbow Dash struck first, lightning quick, her hoof connecting with the Arbiter's midsection. The Arbiter grunted in surprise at the hit, but retaliated by performing a backflip, his rear hooves striking her jaw. The two continued to exchange blows in what could almost be described as an aerial ballet. Suddenly, the Arbiter reached behind his left wing and pulled out his energy sword. Holding the handle in his teeth, and igniting the sword, he slashed at Rainbow Dash. She avoided the attack, but the blade of plasma singed her mane. Rainbow Dash, knowing she was outmatched in a head on fight, took off for a small forest that they had been fighting near, the Arbiter in hot pursuit. Dodging and weaving through the trees, the two flew in and out of the forest. Finally, Rainbow Dash saw her chance, accelerating down a small, straight clearing, she prepared her final trick. At the end of the clearing was a large tree, which she flew towards, and at the last second swerved around it, her light, flexible body barely clearing the tree. Knowing that the larger pegasus couldn't possibly turn or decelerate at those high speeds, she hovered triumphantly on the other side of the tree. However, instead of attempting to decelerate or turn, the Arbiter continued to accelerate. He angled his head and neck forward, pointed the energy sword's tip straight ahead like an arrow, tucked his hooves in, angled his wings so he began to roll, and a moment before impact, tucked his wings in. The spinning energy sword acted like a drill, allowing the Arbiter to fly _through_ the tree, bursting out the other side in an explosion of splinters, catching Rainbow Dash by surprise and nicking her left wing with his energy sword. Rainbow Dash cried out in pain, and fell to the ground, landing near the other ponies. The arbiter was soon upon her, pinning her to the ground, holding his energy sword in preparation for killing her. The Arbiter angled his neck, and swung his energy sword, which stopped mere inches from Rainbow Dash's neck and attempted to wrench itself out of the Arbiter's grasp. John looked around and saw the white unicorn's eyes closed in concentration and her horn ablaze with light. He motioned to Johnson, who grabbed the unicorn's horn in his teeth, and flipped her over, knocking her unconscious moments after she succeeded in ripping the sword out of the Arbiter's grasp and sending it flying towards John, who caught and extinguished it. Rainbow dash, seeing her chance, tried to escape, but simply got a hoof to the gut for her efforts. John turned to the yellow pegasus, expecting it to put up a fight, but she simply squeaked, and fell over sideways, her legs locking up.

The defeated ponies' legs and wings were then tied up, although Rainbow Dash was the only one conscious. "Let us go!" she cried, torn between screaming and crying. John, ignored her cry, and wordlessly reached into his bag, pulling out a biofoam canister. He then approached Rainbow Dash, placed the canister on the ground, and untied her injured wing. "Extend it," he said. "What?" "Your injured wing, extend it." "Why?" "Look, if you don't want my help, fine, but I need to have access to your injury in order to heal it." Rainbow dash carefully extended her wing, wincing as the pain flared up. John had been instructed in field medicine, and his trained eye quickly assessed the damage. The Arbiter's energy sword had melted some of Rainbow Dash's flesh, and had exposed a small bit of bone. Luckily, the heat from the plasma had helped her blood clot, so there was no danger of her bleeding out. "Ok, this is going to sting a bit, but it should numb the pain and help you heal faster." said John picking up the biofoam canister in his mouth. He carefully inserted the nozzle into the wound, and used his teeth to squeeze the handle. The biofoam hissed as it filled Rainbow's wound. Rainbow drew in a sharp breath at the cold, stinging sensation. Once the wound was filled, John removed the canister and bound Rainbow's wound in a medical bandage, using a hoof to hold one end while wrapping the bandage around her wing with his mouth. "Done," he said, once he secured it with medical tape. "Thank you, I guess," replied Rainbow. "You're lucky it wasn't the Brutes who captured you," scoffed the Arbiter, "They wouldn't be this kind, they would rather eat you, then heal you. You should be thankful." "Arbiter, enough," interrupted John. Turning to Rainbow Dash, he asked "Why did you attack us?" "Because you were traveling with Nightmare Moon, obviously," she answered. "Who?" asked John, confused. "Nightmare Moon," repeated Rainbow Dash, "You don't know who Nightmare Moon is? But every pony knows who she is, which means... *Gasp* you're the aliens!" John sighed and nodded.

"." Rainbow Dash practically squealed. Turning to Cortana she said, "I'm really sorry about attacking you miss, umm," "Cortana," replied Cortana, "My name is Cortana." "Oh, I'm sorry for mistaking you for Nightmare and attacking you Cortana, you just look so much like her. I can't believe you ponies are aliens, you look just like Equestrians." "Well, seeing as this was all because of a misunderstanding, I might as well untie you then." said John, using his mouth to undo the knots binding Rainbow Dash. Once rainbow was free, he sat down on his hindquarters and muttered, "I'll never get used to doing that," "Doing what?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Using my mouth to manipulate things," "Why don't you use your magic then?" "What?" "Unicorn ponies can't use magic where you're from? That sucks." "Actually, we aren't ponies." "Huh?" "Our species is called human, Johnson and I were humans, while the Arbiter was actually an Elite, or Sanghelli as they are called," explained John, pointing to each pony in turn. "What about Cortana?" "Cortana was actually an AI, an artificial intelligence." "What's that?" "Do you ponies have computers?" "Huh?" John sighed and said, "Ok, let's try it this way, what kind of technology do you ponies have? You know, machines, factories, the wheel, levers, electricity, and whatnot." "Oh, well we do have that stuff, but it's mainly run by earth ponies, unicorns mainly use their magic for stuff, and us pegasi are fine doing our jobs controlling the weather." "Ok, there we go, well a computer is a really complicated machine, and an AI is a really intelligent computer. Are you getting any of this?" asked John, hopefully. Rainbow Dash mulled it over for a few seconds, and then replied, "Nope, I'm not really into those sorts of things. If you want to find a pony who likes knowledge, you should see Twilight Sparkle; she's the town's resident librarian." John realized he had been explaining this to the wrong pony and was about to say something about wasting his time, but decided against it. "Ok," he said, "Take us to see this Twilight Sparkle." "Ok, but first, can you free my friends?" John nodded and motioned to the Arbiter who reluctantly undid the knots. Once the other two unconscious ponies were untied, Rainbow helped lift them carefully onto John's back, and the group set off for Ponyville.

As they traveled, John began to ask questions. "So what's this magic you talked about earlier?" "Oh," replied Rainbow Dash, "It's some sort of energy that is in Equestria, the country you're in, that unicorns are able to manipulate to allow them to do stuff like lift objects, and transform different stuff. All I know, is it is mental, and has something to do with their horns, but being a pegasus pony, I can't really help you there." "What about pegasi?" asked the Arbiter, trotting up beside them. "Well, you are quite a good flier, Arbiter; I can't believe you caught up with me." "Well, I don't quite know how I did that, I mean, after knocking you down I could barely hover, I guess it was an adrenaline thing." "Hmm, well you have potential, I'll give you that, what have you managed to do by yourself?" "Just hover a bit." "Well, once things get sorted out, I'll give you flying lessons." "I would appreciate that Rainbow Dash, actually, I was wondering what you meant by controlling the weather?" "Well, pegasi are able to walk on, and manipulate clouds. I'm the captain of Ponyville's weather team. What we do is schedule the weather for the town to coincide with crop watering needs and seasons. Twilight said our abilities had to do with magic coming from our bodies or something." "That's it!" exclaimed Cortana, drawing everypony's attention. "This magic must have been what made us turn into ponies. When we were entering the atmosphere, the sensors detected an extremely high amount of unknown radiation. It was deadly to humans, so it must have turned us into ponies in order to keep us alive." Why would it do that?" asked John, "It's not like its sentient or something." "No, it probably isn't, but i think the effects must have been somewhat like cancer, mutating our cells into pony cells." "But what about you?" "Well, it obviously had some sort of electromagnetic component, therefore causing the mutation of my memory crystal matrix. Strangely enough, I feel like a living pony, such as hunger, pain, and thirst, but I can still process data like an AI. Although, I have noticed one possible mental side effect to the change for us all." "What?" "Behavioral restriction degradation. Have you noticed that we're all talking like a bunch of civilians? I mean, I've barely heard you speak fifty sentences, outside of briefings and debriefings John, and here you are talking as much as myself normally."

"Ah, we're here," interrupted Rainbow dash. The group looked around; they were standing at the edge of Ponyville, right underneath what appeared to be a cloud house. "Wait right here," said Rainbow dash, flying up to the house, "I need to get a cloak for Cortana from my home, to hide her wings, since the only other alicorns are the two princesses." With that, she flew in the door, out of sight. Princesses? wondered John. In the meantime, the Arbiter had been watching Rainbow dash's wings closely. When she had gone, he spread his wings, and began to slowly climb up to a grey cloud that was hanging in the air above John. Once he had flown above it, he stopped flapping his wings, and sure enough, landed with puff on top of the cloud. The Arbiter experimented with the substance for a few moments, picking up bits of cloud in his hooves. Finally, he decided to test the cloud's strength. Giving, a few experimental hops, he found the cloud's surface to be slightly springy. After a few seconds however, he heard the tinkling sound of water falling, and noticed that the cloud had become a lighter shade of grey. Carefully peering down from the edge of the cloud, he saw a drenched John, staring daggers back at him, the ponies on his back still unconscious, Johnson and Cortana standing of to the side, barely able to hold their laughter in. The Arbiter meekly flew back down, unwilling to meet John's gaze. After a minute, Rainbow Dash flew back down and saw a soaked John, and an ashamed Arbiter. She quickly put two and two together and burst out laughing. Once she had calmed down, she placed the cloak she had brought onto Cortana, and the group headed off to Twilight's library.

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><p>end note: i'm going to start going with shorter versions of most of the ponies names, like i did in ch 4, so don't be alarmed, just tired of writing full names.<p> 


	6. Reunion

Another update everypony!

As I said, I'm going to be spending my time typing this story this week, so expect more updates. Although, I'm afraid if I push myself too much, I might suffer a burnout. (for those of you who don't know, it's what happens when a unicorn uses way too much magic, and their system "burns out" quite painfull, and takes weeks to recover from) Luckily, Luna will take up my duties if that happens, so if the commentary changes for a while, that shall be her, not me.

"Wipe that evil grin off your face Luna!"

So, you may be wondering why the firebase is getting an active camo upgrade. The obvious answer is to hide it from Ponyville, but I had other reasons (spoiler: Radinbowdash + invisible base = lolz)

So, here everypony gets reunited, and the the halo ponies get a firebase. Actually, i originally wanted to add yet another character, an AI that runs the base, but due to storyline complications it didn't work out. BTW: excuse my fail attempt at applejack's accent, unless i did a good job, in which case thats, nice.

Just wanted to tell everypony, i'm going to to be referring to the halo ponies as the troops from next chapter on, cause it's starting to get confusing when referring to them as a group.

Wow, this has been a really long commentary, it's like i'm just asking for a burnout...well, i thought karma was going to get me right there. Hah, in your face karmaaaaargh!

This is Luna, hi everypony, um, [name redacted] is lying on the floor screaming and writhing in agony. I guess i should help him, maybe. Btw:i transcribed that aaargh part. I feel proud.

I guess commentating was nice. i'll let you read the story while I go find a cure for his pain.

p.s: umm, the author doesn't want anyone to know his name untill it's revealed in Odd one out.

Updated commentary:

Wow, didn't realize how easy it was to spread the dialog around. I think it fits everypony's personality a bit better now. I ended up giving about 90% of John's dialog to Johnson and Cortana.

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><p>Chapter 6: Reunion<p>

Twilight was frantic, after reading the information in the ship, she was sure that the aliens were hostile, and that Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy were heading for the escape pod landings. After running to the spot as fast as she could, she found the area abandoned, with no sign of the aliens or her friends.

"Oh, this is hopeless," she cried after searching the surrounding the fields for the tenth time.

"Don't be so sad Twilight," said Pinkie, "I'm sure they're probably ok and waiting for us back at the library," "What makes you think that?" "Well, the exact center of the bottom of my front right hoof is itchy, so that means that my friends are safe and sound at the library." "Well why didn't you say something before we spent an hour searching for them!" yelled Twilight, her mane beginning to smoke and glow red.

"Simmer down there Sally," said AJ, stepping between Pinkie and Twilight, "I'm sure that Pinkie tried to tell you, but you were so focused on finding the others, you probably couldn't hear a word she said."

"You're right AJ, I'm sorry about yelling at you Pinkie," apologized Twilight, calming down.

"Now, why don't we all go back to your house Twi, ahm sure that where the others will be."

"Ok AJ, let's go," said Twilight, turning in the direction of Ponyville.

The trio walked in silence, and but once they were just outside the library, something caught Pinkie's attention. She darted off, leaving Twi and AJ to shrug and enter without her. Once inside the library, Twilight saw her friends standing together, safe. Once she had assured herself of the safety of her friends, Twilight noticed four new ponies standing and talking to her friends.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, you're safe!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and giving them a group hug. As she hugged them, she felt something strange on Dash's left wing. She pulled back and looked at it, exclaiming, "What is this!", as she saw the bandage.

"Well," explained Dash, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof, "Umm, I sort of attacked them, and they sort of-"

"What! You got hurt! Let me see the damage." Twilight telekinetically removed the bandage, and peered at the wound. To Dash and the new ponies' surprise, the wound had almost completely healed, leaving only a small, reddish patch of flesh exposed.

One of the new ponies whistled and said, "Wow, I've never seen that stuff work so fast." Twilight ignored him, and finished healing Dash with her magic.

"Now," she said turning around and facing the new ponies, "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced yet, I'm Twilight Sparkle, what are your names?"

"I'm Johnson," replied the green earth pony, "The grey pegasus is Arbiter, the green unicorn is John, or Master Chief, and the blue one is Cortana."

"Nice to meet you," said Twilight cheerfully. Looking at Cortana, Twilight noticed that she had a cloak draped over her back, "Oh, you can put your cloak on the rack over there if you like," she said, not wanting to be a bad host.

"Oh, thank you, it was getting a little itchy," replied Cortana, walking over to the rack and using her mouth to remove her cloak and hang it, revealing her wings.

Twilight gasped. "You're an alicorn," she exclaimed.

"Oh, so that what this is called. Is there a problem with that?" "But only the princesses are alicorns, this doesn't make any sense!"

"Relax Twi," said Rainbow, coming over to stand by her, "They're the aliens, they used to not even be ponies but some other species called humans. They think that Equestria's magic turned them into ponies and Cortana just became an alicorn randomly."

"You're aliens?" asked Twilight, "But your ship said that you had weapons, I thought you would be violent."

"Yes, we do have weapons," replied Cortana, but that was because the Covenant decided that we should be exterminated, after we extended a hand of friendship towards them."

"Hand?"

"Ok, hoof of friendship."

"I see, so you were just defending yourselves."

"More like fighting for our very survival. The Covenant would go to our colonies one by one, and glass them, which is where they fire their plasma cannons at the surface of a planet, killing everything on it, boiling away all the atmosphere and water, and turning the entire surface to glass."

"That's horrible!" cried Twilight, shuddering at the mental image.

"But enough about the horrors of the war," interrupted John, distracting Twilight from the image, "The war ended recently, after we killed their last leader, just before he was about to fire the Halo rings. Well, hopefully it ended."

Twilight was about to tell John about the writing she saw, but was interrupted by Pinkie as she burst through the door. Pinkie did her trademark gasp, and introduced herself to the new ponies, not surprised at all by Cortana's wings.

"Well, look at the time," announced Twilight, before Pinkie could try to throw a party, "It's getting late. Do you four have any place to sleep?"

"No," replied John, "We were planning on sleeping outside, or maybe heading over to whats left of the ship, we wouldn't want to cause any inconveniences."

"Oh heavens no!" cried Rarity, it would be horrible if you had to sleep out in the cold, I have an extra bed in my house, but you all are welcome to at least sleep inside my boutique."

"No Rarity, I'll take them in, I have more than enough space," replied Twilight.

"Are you sure dear?"

"Positive."

"Wait!" cried Pinkie, causing everypony to stop and look at her.

"Somepony told me to give this to you if you needed a place to stay," Pinkie then opened her mouth, and stuck out her tongue, upon which, sat a small, gray cube. She deposited the cube on the floor, strangely enough dry.

Johnson trotted up to it, and examined it for a few second before exclaiming, "I can't believe it, this is an experimental firebase in a box! Where did you find it?"

"It was under F!"

"What?"

"Just kidding silly, a friend of mine gave this to me, to give to you, on one condition."

"Sure, any-"

"Hold up a second there Johnson," interrupted Cortana, sticking a hoof in Johnson's mouth.

Once she was certain he wouldn't say anything, she romover her hoof from his mouth, wiped it on the floor, and continued, "While you two are ideal should any physical conflict occur, I think that you boys should take a back seat on this one. Let the lady handle the diplomacy."

Johnson, opened his mouth to say something, but paused when Cortana glared at him. After a few seconds, he closed his mouth and backed away, mumbling, "Your hoof tasted terrible anyway."

Cortana turned to Pinkie Pie and said, "We may consider consider your offer. What do they want in return?"

"He wants you to do two favors for him in return; he didn't say what they were, just that they weren't dangerous."

"Why two favors, and who is this friend of yours?"

"Well, he wants to keep his identity secret for now, but he said that you would be able to tell when he decides to meet you. As for the two favors, one for the cube, and one for this," replied Pinkie, spitting up a rectangular object.

"The remote, of course," said Cortana. Turning to John, she asked, "What do you think Chief? You're far mor rational than Johnson, I'd like to hear your opinion."

"The base would give us a major tactical advantage over our current state, if the Covenant do decide to show up. As for two favors, I don't think that the pony requesting these favors means us any harm. If they did, they wouldn't be giving us a firebase," said John, "I think the deal is safe."

"Very well then," said Cortana, "We accept the terms of your agreement."

"Okie dokie lokie," replied Pinkie, bouncing out the door.

"This is great!" exclaimed Johnson, gleefully bouncing around the cube.

"Except we need a large open area, away from town to deploy it," reminded John.

"Oh, right," said Johnson, halting his circular motion.

"Ah might be able to help with that," said AJ, "My name is Applejack, and ahm always willing to lend a helping hoof. My family owns a big apple orchard at the edge of town, and ahm sure there's a big enough clearing in the orchard for your firebase thingy."

"Thank you very much Applejack, lead the way." replied Cortana. The four ponies followed AJ out the door, and to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Well, here we are," announced Applejack, pointing a hoof towards a large clearing surrounded by apple trees.

"This is perfect, thank you Applejack," said John. He then trotted towards the center of the clearing, and carefully placed the cube onto the ground. Once he had returned to the others, Johnson removed the remote from his bag, placing it on the ground in front of his hooves.

John then raised a hoof, to enter the activation code, and was about to start, when he realized a fatal flaw in his plan. "Aw hay," he said, staring at the remote.

"What?" asked Cortana.

"I forgot we don't have fingers to enter the codes anymore."

"Well why don't y'all just use your magic?" asked AJ.

"We only turned into ponies today, John and I don't know how to use unicorn magic," replied Cortana.

"Oh, well why don't you use a stick?"

John stared at AJ, open mouthed for a few seconds, before before mentally slapping himself. John then picked up a fallen stick in his mouth, and used one end to enter the activation codes on the remote. "Ok, stand back everypony," he warned the others, before transmitting the code. The remote beeped to signal that the code was accepted, and everypony's eyes turned towards the cube.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Suddenly, the top of the cube opened up, allowing a crystal to rise out a few inches above the cube. The crystal began to glow, and large grid was projected onto the clearing, about a third of its area. A swarm of grey particles flew out of the top of the cube, and began to cover the area above the grid.

"Nanobots," explained Cortana, seeing AJ's terrified reaction, "They're microscopic machines that are currently constructing the base."

"I think I heard Twilight say something about microscopic meaning something that's too small to see. But ah definately can see those buggers. Are ya sure they're microscopic?" asked AJ, curious. "We can see them because of the sheer amount of them in the cloud; if you want I can look up the exact number in the base's databanks." "No thanks, I don't really like all those fancy mathematics." Cortana shrugged, and looked back to the base. By now, the nanobots had created the framework for the base and were rapidly filling up the walls. After five more minutes, the base was complete, and the remaining nanobots flew into small ports on the top of the base, which sealed as soon as the last bots entered.

Applejack was confused; as far as she could tell, the base was just a large metallic cube, with no visible entrance. She was about to ask John about this, when he pushed another button, and the center section of the base slid backwards, revealing a large ramp leading down into the ground below the base and panels slid back, revealing windows on the center section of the base. "Well, I guess it's time to hit the hay, everypony," said Johnson, giving a slight chuckle. The four began to descend down the ramp, leaving AJ standing in front of the base by herself.

"Err; umm is it okay if I tag along with you ponies for a bit, you know, to see if your base is any threat to mah farm?"

"No problem at all Applejack, we were just going to switch on the main power before heading off to bed. We would love to have you along." replied Cortana. AJ ran over to the four, catching up just as they entered a small metallic room.

"What's this," she asked, as John pushed a button, and metal panels closed behind them.

"An elevator," explained Cortana, "It's a device that transports ponies vertical distances. The one we are currently using is for supplies, since the one for humans is too small." John pushed another button, and the elevator lurched upwards. After a few seconds, it stopped, and the doors opened with a ding.

The ponies stepped out into a dimly lit room, John objectively walking over to a red switch in the wall. John used a hoof to push it downwards, and the room suddenly lit up. Applejack was stunned, the walls were covered in glowing pictures, displaying alien writing, it was very similar to the displays she had seen on the crashed ship, but seemed to be less advanced, they were awe inspiring all the same. Suddenly, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Johnson standing beside her, with a grin on his muzzle. "Impressive isn't it?" he asked, "The work of some of the finest minds of the UNSC." AJ nodded, figuring that UNSC was the name of their country.

A thought crossed her mind, and she asked "How are y'all gonna hide something this big from all the folks in Ponyville?" "That is a good question, how are we going to hide it?" asked Johnson, turning to face Cortana. "This base has some experimental active camouflage technology built into it, the base will become invisible once we activate it." explained Cortana, tapping one of the computer monitors with a pencil.

Johnson whistled and said, "I knew we had personal active camo systems, but I've never heard of an entire firebase being cloaked."

"It's a new technology; the UNSC was able to develop it, shortly after our alliance with the Elites."

"Strange... Wait, how do you know all this? You didn't even know of the alliance until after we freed you from High Charity."

"I'm reading the information on the computer," replied Cortana, rolling her eyes. The computer Cortana was using beeped, and after checking it, she announced, "Well we have basic functions online, as well as cloaking. I've modified the computer's eye tracking systems and voice recognition software to recognize our pony forms, but they will take a few hours to fully warm up and initialize the auxiliary systems, so I think we should call it a night."

The other ponies agreed, so John escorted AJ outside, and told her to tell her family to stay clear of the field, before heading back inside. Once John entered the elevator, the center section of the base slid forward again, and, much to Applejack's surprise, the base shimmered out of view. AJ shook her head and trotted back to her house, muttering, "Tomorrow's gonna be one crazy day."


	7. I Spy in the Sky

Hi everypony, its Luna again, the author is still unable to type, so I'll be transcribing for him.

Hey everypony, a new update yay!

For anypony who actually cares, I'm feeling much better, and probably will be typing by the next update.

If this chapter is confusing, its because i was really hurrying to get this update out. I'm angry at myself for not getting this out yesterday, but I literally fell asleep while dictating, and Luna decided not to wake me up.

So, we're doing OK, I'm deciding whether or not to move into the firebase, because celestia will never find me there.

Once again, the ponies become enshrouded in mystery, and the Halo ponies now are wondering if there is more to this planet than is being shown.

OK, I can't think of anything else to say, so i'll shut up now and let you read.

Luna: bye!

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><p>Chapter 7: I Spy in the Sky<p>

John opened his eyes, his internal clock awakening him. Looking around, he was confused about his location for a moment, but quickly recalled the events of the previous day. A quick look at the clock on the wall showed that it was almost noon. Groggily walking over to the bathroom, John muttered, "Confound these ponies, they drive me to ditch protocol," as he washed the sleep from his eyes. A quick glance in the mirror showed that he definitely didn't meet military hygiene standards. John used his mouth to open the door to one of the shower stalls. He was about to turn on the water when he realized that he didn't know the first thing about pony hygiene, nevertheless how he was supposed to use a soap bar? Dumbfounded on what to do, he decided to try the commander's quarters which none of them had decided to use. Entering the Commander's private bathroom, he saw both a shower stall, and a large bath tub inside. While a ridiculous luxury for the military, it would suit his purposes. After plugging the drain and dropping a bar of soap in, John filled the bath tub three fourths full with water, before immersing himself in it, the water level rising to cover his body completely. He closed his eyes and ducked his head underwater for a few moments, before surfacing. Pleased to see that the dust coming of his body was turning the soapy water slightly brown, he carefully used his hooves to replace the bar of soap, a difficult task that required many tries, before opening the drain and climbing out of the tub. After realizing that towels were not an option, he decided to go into the shower stall and shake himself dry. Amazingly enough, the water easily flew off his body, leaving him dry as a bone, and his coat and tail straightening out, causing the light reflecting off his coat to give it a luminous sheen. The feeling of being clean filled John with a strange sense of joy, and he exited the bathroom, humming to himself. As he turned to close the door, he heard a snicker coming from the entrance to the commander's quarters, and whipped his head back around to see Arbiter and Johnson standing in the doorway, a grin on the latter's muzzle. John's good mood quickly vanished, and he sternly replied, "Get in the tub you two."

Once Arbiter and Johnson had cleaned up, the three entered the control room, where they found Cortana standing by one of the terminals, her head lowered, as if looking at something on the floor. Johnson and Arbiter quickly took their stations, supervising the station's initialization, while John decided to converse with Cortana. "Good morning Cortana," he cheerfully said, coming up behind Cortana. "Good morning John," she replied, not looking up from her current position. John walked over next to Cortana, to see what she was looking at, and saw that she had inserted her horn into the terminal's data port, her eyes closed. "Umm, Cortana, do you mind telling me what exactly you are doing?" he asked, uncertainly. Cortana opened her eyes, removed her horn from the port, and looked at John, replying, "I found out that I only need a few hours of sleep, in order to be fully refreshed. As for the horn, while you were all sleeping, I was managing the base's systems, and analyzing the biosphere of this planet, which is quite similar to Earth, when I found out that I could interface with the base systems if I inserted my horn into a data port. Since then, I've been ordering the nanobots to adjust the control interfaces to compensate for your pony selves, such as lowering the monitors and such. I've been unable to monitor the surrounding area from much more than the external cameras; I need your authorization codes to enable the advanced sensor systems." "Good job Cortana," replied John before using a pencil to enter his codes on the keyboard. The security protocols fell away, and the troops now had full access to the base's systems. "Ok, activating advanced sensor systems, online, launching Clarion spy drones in 3...2...1...Launch!" There were twin thumps, as the two satellites launched via high pressurized gas, instead of thrusters, as not to alert the nearby townsfolk. "Entering upper atmosphere, igniting thrusters," reported Cortana, once again interfacing with the base, "Low orbit reached, stabilizing... done. Low orbit established, activating sensors, compensating for atmospheric conditions and displaying feed." In the center of the room, a table, that had previously been bare, lit up, and displayed a holographic 3D topography map of Equestria. The map then was covered by the camera feeds, and to any non-military pony nearby, it would look as if there was a perfectly detailed model of Equestria sitting on the table.

The troops gathered around the map, and John placed his hooves on a control pad, which automatically tilted to the most convenient angle. John zoomed the map, by manipulating his hooves on the control pad, until the map was showing Ponyville. John found the advances the spy drone technology had made, in conjunction with the base, highly convenient. Walking around, to and from the different buildings, were highly detailed and accurate live holograms of the ponies in Ponyville. Selecting a pony, or even multiple ponies, brought up a biosign display for each one. John noticed that six of the ponies, besides themselves, had labels next to them, the ponies that they had met the previous day. John figured that Cortana must have uploaded their characteristics into the system last night, and refined the selection as the feeds had come online. John decided to select Applejack's label, and the map shifted, zooming in on her. Applejack was seen apparently bucking apples from a tree, and collecting them when they fell in a nearby cart. Once she had collected the apples, AJ looked in the direction of the base, muttered something, and began trotting in its direction, talking to herself along the way. John was disappointed that they couldn't hear what she was saying, but dismissed it, happy with what he currently had. Cortana, on the other hoof, sensed his disappointment, and reached over and tapped circular icon on his control pad. Once, the icon was pressed, the troops could hear AJ's voice coming from the speakers.

"Ah wonder what those alien pony folk are doing, sure seems awfully quiet over there since that thump a few minutes ago. I guess they're up, probably should go over there to say good morning." said AJ to herself as she trotted on over to the clearing.

Entering the clearing, and looking around, she saw nothing, not that she expected to see anything. "Hello? Are you ponies in there? It's me Applejack," she called in the direction of the base. After a few seconds, the air shimmered and the base rematerialized, less than three feet from her nose. "Ack!" she exclaimed, backpedalling a few steps. "We hear you Applejack," John's voice said, emanating from the base, "I'm coming outside." The base opened up, and AJ could see John waving a hoof to her from behind one of the windows. She waved back, and after a minute, John trotted up the ramp, a warm smile on his face. "Good day Applejack," he said. "Likewise," she replied, tipping her hat slightly. "So, asked John, "To what do we owe this pleasure?" "Ah wanted to check up on y'all, see how you were doing." "Oh," said John, his ears perking up, "We're doing great! Actually, we just finished getting the base fully online. If you want, I can give you a tour." "Ah suppose I could spare a few minutes." "If you want, I could help you with your apple picking or bucking, after the tour." "Thank you, I would appreciate that," replied Applejack, smiling, then pulling back, startled, "Now wait just one apple picking minute, how do you folks know about applebucking?" "We saw you bucking that apple tree earlier." "Ah was all the way on the other side of the farm! How in Celestia's name did you see me?" "Well, that's part of our base's sensor system, I was going to show you that in the tour, I'm sure you'll find it fascinating." "Well sure, why not, be nice to take a break actually." "Great, follow me then." John turned around and walked back inside, AJ following close behind.

"The large ramp we walked down actually extends to the rear of the facility," explained John, as the two entered the elevator, "At the end there is the warthog construction plant, machines that can quickly travel great distances; it's mainly automated so nopony really goes there. Although I should mention, that the base can be added on to, the nanobots that you saw yesterday can build extra buildings which will be connected to the main base via the tunnel/ramp. Jon hit the up button on the elevator, and it began rising. "So, how big does this place get?" asked AJ, concerned for her farm. "Don't worry AJ; a fully expanded base would only take up about half of your field." "Well that's a relief," said AJ, as the elevator reached its destination, the doors opening. As John and AJ entered the control room, the three ponies already inside waved to her from their work stations. Looking around, AJ was surprised at how different the control room looked, with so little physical change. The monitors on the walls, no longer displayed lines of text, they now showed many different images, some had wavy lines across them, others had moving bars, and a few had images of the outside world on them. John led AJ to the biggest change in the room, a strange table, upon which was a model of Ponyville. As she approached it, in awe, she felt the floor lurch sideways and saw the windows closing off, but was reassured by John that it was just the base locking down, and activating invisibility. Her attention back to the table, AJ peered closer at the model, and was surprised to see small ponies wandering about town. "What the hay is this?" she asked John. "This is our base's sensor system, it's getting live visuals from two small satellites that are up in space, maintaining geosynchronous orbit above Equestria." explained John. "Umm, can you simplify all that fancy talk for me please." asked AJ. "Simply put," said Cortana, coming up next to them, "We launched two small machines, the thumps you heard earlier today, extremely high into the sky, where they are looking down on us, using mechanical eyes, and transmitting their images and data to this table, which creates a representation of wherever we tell the machines to look." "Ah get it now, but wouldn't that be spying on ponies?" "Yes, it sort of is, this base was originally designed as an intelligence gathering station, which explains the camouflage and enhanced sensors, but we're only using the system to watch over the country, in case the Covenant arrive." "The Covenant? Those mean aliens who tried to kill y'all?" "Yes, from what we know of the commander of the fleet who attacked us, is that he is very persistent, it's only a matter of time until he finds us." AJ was about to reply, but was cut off when an orange light began to flash on the side of the table. "What's that mean?" she asked. "Proximity warning," explained John, manipulating the controls, "It means that somepony is getting too close to the base." The view zoomed in on the base, and showed five ponies approaching it. "Those are my friends!" exclaimed AJ pointing a hoof at the five ponies. "Well I better go say hello," said John entering the elevator.

AJ felt the base unlock, and after a few minutes, the elevator doors opened again, and 6 ponies came out, Twilight asking John questions about nearly everything. Once the ponies were given the tour, including the bunk area, which was Rainbow's favorite, they all crowded around the map. "Hey John, what are those?" asked Twilight pointing to the miniature displays next to each pony on the map. "Those are biosign displays, forerunner technology acquired from Onyx. They show each pony's heartbeat, blood pressure, stress level, will display medical warnings if they are hurt in any way, and will show exactly what is wrong with them. It works remarkably well on you pony folk for some reason, when we use it on humans, it only works half the time." "Wow, Nurse Red Heart would love to have access to this kind of technology, not to mention the scientists at Canterlot!" exclaimed Twilight, "Wait, Oh No! I forgot to send a letter to the princess telling her of your arrival!"

"No problem Twilight," said John, unlocking the base, "I think we've wasted enough of your time already." The ponies began to protest, but John raised a hoof to silence them. "I'm sure you all have jobs or errands that you have to run right now, besides, I promised AJ I'd help her with Applebucking after the tour." "Actually, said AJ, I'm all finished applebucking, so I'm sorry about that." "No problem AJ," said John, "The four of us can stay in the base or a while." "Nonsense dear," interrupted Rarity, "You showed us your home, so the least I can do is show you ours. Let me give you a tour of Ponyville." "And afterwards, I can throw you a big "Welcome to Ponyville" party!" added Pinkie." "Aren't you busy? You said something about running a boutique." "Nonsense dear, I wouldn't be the element of Generosity if I didn't at least do this for you." "Element of What?" asked John, confused. "Oh nothing, nothing at all," tittered Rarity, looking away, "So will you please let me give you a tour?" "Okay," replied John, warily.

By the way Rarity reacted to his question, and the looks the other ponies had given her when she said Element of Generosity, John was sure she had almost leaked some big secret these ponies had, and by the looks of it, the secret was only known by these five ponies. "Hey Cortana, Arbiter, Johnson, could you come here for a moment, I need to discuss our next move with you, in private." he said, motioning them off to the side. Once they were gathered around, John quietly told them his suspicious on this Element secret. "So what do we do now?" whispered Johnson. "Arbiter, you stay here, try to use the sensors to gather as much information on these Elements as you can, I don't care who you have to spy on, just do it." The Arbiter nodded in agreement. "The rest of us will go with Rarity, to familiarize ourselves with the town, and its denizens." finished John. They separated, and John said, "Okay, we'll go with you Rarity, but the Arbiter is going stay here and keep an eye on the base." "No problem," replied Rarity. The ponies boarded the lift, and exited the base. Once outside, the other ponies went their separate ways, leaving Rarity, Cortana, Johnson, and John outside the base. "Now, let's get going," said Rarity, heading towards town, the three Halo ponies in tow.


	8. Broken bones, Broken hearts

Yay! another My little halo chapter.

Yes, I know this is a little grimdark, but It fits in the story quite well. You could say I tried to make it as accurate as possible.

I actually wrote this since I had a horrible day at school. Today was the PPAT (pre pony assessment test) and the school's schedule was all messed up. I had to attend some wierd workshop and listen to a lecture on diamond dog rights. Anyway, I left my saddlebags in the room, and only realized that when I got home. I tried looking for them, but could not find them anywhere. Plus, since life hates me, my 15 page hoof-written essay on advanced magical theory was in those saddlebags.

Yay me.

Luna is trying to comfort me now, but it's not working.

*sigh* Well enjoy the chapter I guess. I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

p.s.: yes, this story will include DashXArbiter shipping. I removed the teaser chapter, because everypony thought that it was part of the story, despite explicitly saying it was not.

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><p>Chapter 8: Broken hearts, broken bones.<p>

"Argh, why do I feel this way?" muttered Rainbow Dash, flying towards her cloud house. While trying her best to remain cool and calm on the outside, on the inside, Rainbow's feelings were in turmoil. Back in Flight camp, she had been called a filly fooler by the bullies, and as much as she hated to agree with them, they were right. She had always had a thing for mares, heck; she had crashed into Twilight when she had first met her, because she was momentarily dumbfounded by the unicorn's good looks. Sure she teased her a lot, but that was because she had no other idea how to flirt with a mare. But that pegasus, Arbiter, he was something different. Ever since she had first laid eyes on him, she couldn't stop thinking about him. "What's not to like about him," thought Rainbow, "He's strong, muscular, has a good sense of humor, and most importantly, a pegasus like me. Sure he needs to work on his flying a bit, but with a little training I'm sure he could almost rival me. Wait, training… Oh ponyfeathers!" cried Rainbow, remembering her promise to teach Arbiter how to fly.

Making a quick turnaround, Rainbow zoomed back towards the base. She flew low to the ground, scanning for any sign of the metallic structure. "Huh," she muttered, "Where in Equestria is—" *CLANG*

Rainbow received her answer as her flight was abruptly halted by seemingly thin air. As she started to slide down towards the ground, the air shimmered, and the firebase appeared, unlocking once Rainbow had peeled herself from the wall.

"Stupid invisithingy," she grumbled as she flew over to the lift entrance. Imitating what John had done, she pressed her hoof against one of the round buttons on the wall. The doors shut with a hiss, and Rainbow quickly landed as the floor began to move up. After a few seconds, the doors opened, and Rainbow stepped out into the control room. Looking around, she saw that she was the only occupant in the room. "Hello? Arbiter? Anypony home?" she called out. "Hello Rainbow Dash," Cortana's silky voice said, seeming to come from the walls. "Cortana?" asked Rainbow, confused, what are you doing here? Where are you?" "Well, I'm not really Cortana," replied the voice, "I'm actually a partial copy of Cortana that she created to run the firebase while she was gone. I am the Firebase Independent Intelligent Logistics Interface System. You may call me Fillis." "Okay, Fillis, could you please tell me where Arbiter is, I promised him that I would teach him how to fly." "Sure, he is currently in the simulation room. There is no COM system, in there so I'll just lead you to him. Take the second door to your left." On Rainbow's left, a door slid open, and she trotted through it.

After following Fillis's directions, Rainbow arrived at a door marked simulation room. She used her muzzle to press a button marked "open" on the door's frame. The door slid open, but the room beyond appeared to be filled with white light, so bright that Rainbow couldn't see into the room. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the light, and emerged on an alien world. Quickly looking back, Rainbow was horrified to see that the door she had come through had vanished. Looking around, she spotted Arbiter in the distance, energy sword in mouth, fighting some sort of towering bipedal creature, easily twice his size. She galloped toward him, as fast as she could, hoping to assist him in his fight. She had nearly reached him, when a glowing green orb intersected her path, and collided with her, causing a searing pain in her chest. The pain caused her to trip, and she slid to a stop on the ground, in too much pain to move.

Rainbow heard a strange chittering, and what looked like a bipedal tortoise with a triangular shell, about the size of a pony, standing over her. "Please, help me," she whimpered. The thing looked at her quizzically for a few seconds, then made a few more chittering sounds, then appeared to laugh. It pointed a glowing green pincer shaped device it held in its claw at her tail, and pulled a protrusion on the device. Out of the device came a glowing green orb, identical to the one that had hurt her previously. The orb impacted her tail, which then lit on fire, spreading to her coat and mane. Rainbow screamed as her body was covered in flames. Her mane, coat and tail, burned up as if they had been soaked in alcohol. Rainbow was now completely naked, save for the part of her that had been touching the ground. The thing chittered again, but this time shot the orb at her left foreleg. Rainbow's screams were renewed as the flesh on the leg began to bubble, then melt away, followed by the bone, until her leg was actually severed from her body. Rainbow's mind began to fade as she saw her leg no longer connected to her, but something kept her from blacking out, making her witness as the thing severed the rest of her limbs. Rainbow wept openly now. "Why! Why can't I just die!" she screamed. The thing's attention was suddenly drawn from her. It squealed in surprise, before a blue-white blade of energy cut it in half. Rainbow craned her neck up, and saw the Arbiter standing above her, a disappointed look on his face.

"Why?" she cried, wiggling her stumpy limbs, "Why did you let this happen?" The Arbiter sighed, and used his muzzle to press a button on a device strapped to his side, that Rainbow noticed for the first time. A bright light enveloped the world, and it disappeared, replaced by a room with walls so black, the seemed to be holes going off into infinity. The Arbiter had appeared in the center of the room, and Rainbow by the door. Walking over to her, he asked, "You okay?" Rainbow looked at him incredulously for a moment, then looked at herself, and was overjoyed to see that she was unharmed. "What was that?" She asked, shakily getting to her hooves. "That was a simulation of a battle against the Covenant. You did pretty well for your first time, most species faint or run away after just seeing a brute.. The simulator is pretty realistic, but you can't actually die, nor will your body be harmed, it feels real though. Although, if you do ever face the Covenant, if you're wounded and they get to you, before they're through with you, you'll wish you were dead."


	9. Bowchickawhat?

Hello everypony, it's me.

Ok, last chapter, (well technically it's the next chapter, but anyway) I said that I would update either if I felt like it, or if somepony subscribed to me on youtube.(username: shadowlightpony)

Well, yesterday, somepony subscribed. Since I usually keep my word, I put out another chapter.

Yes, I had to write...on thanksgiving. Yeah, I checked my email after gorging on apple pie, and it said somepony subscribed. So, I had to get off my lazy flank and start typing. Just so you know, it is not easy to type when your stomach is so full, you can barely move your front legs. I tried to use magic, but you know how you get really tired after eating a lot, yeah, that happened to me. Luckily, I was able to dig this chapter out of where I had left it, half finished, and finish it for you guys. Yes, so If the chapter seems a little poorly written, I was half asleep when I wrote it.

p.s. Could you ponies PLEASE stop PMing me saying "You have an RVB reference here. You have an RVB reference here." I KNOW I REFERENCE RVB! Just please stop, okay.

In addition, don't ask me a question unless you have an actual fanfiction account, I have no way to answer it if you just have anonymous or a guest name.

p.s.s. Happy day after thanksgiving everypony!

p.s.s.s.: I tried Skyrim at a friend's house yesterday, and I don't really know what the big deal is. The entire thing just seems like a big Fallout ripoff. Well considering that Bethesda made it, it makes sense but when the HUD, Physics, Fast Travel, sneaking, and combat (minus VATS, but the archer's slow time skill thing is walking a fine line) is pretty much the same, it makes you wonder how lazy Bethesda is.

No, I haven't played any of the other Elder scroll games, but I have a feeling that it's the same. Oh, and when I saw the lockpick UI...I banged my head against the wall (left a hole in it with my horn). It's EXACTLY the same. So basically, it boils down to this. If you are good at Fallout, you are good at skyrim. Want proof? OK, I was watching my friend play, when an Ancient Dragon or whatever it is, attacked his character. I asked if I could play, he saved and agreed, and, this is my first time ever touching this game, I killed it, without taking barely any damage. Supposedly that's a hard enemy. Oh, before I forget, I joked once about there being sentries in skyrim, and he showed me their equivalent.

Note to Bethesda: Make Fallout 4. OR, give the next elder scrolls a different engine. Oh right, Luna got Skyrim, and so now she wont stop talking about it. There is no longer any moment of peace and quiet for me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap.

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Bowchickawhat?<strong>

"Now, the first thing we need to work on is your wing synchronization," instructed Rainbow dash. She was outside with Arbiter, finally giving him the flying lesson she had promised. "Like this?" asked the Arbiter, flapping his wings, roughly in sync with each other. "No, no, you're trying too hard," said Rainbow, swooping down from where she was hovering to where the Arbiter was standing. "Flying is natural for pegasi; it's a part of who we are. Biologically, your wings have the knowledge how to fly. You just need to relax and let them handle the finer details of flight." The Arbiter looked at her quizzically. "If you tell Twilight I said that, I will buck you back to your home planet." Rainbow quickly added.

After an hour of training, The Arbiter was flying around 30ft above the ground, his wings portraying very little sign of his inexperience. "Now, let's show you how to manipulate clouds," said Rainbow. After only a half hour of training, the Arbiter was able to move clouds around, and buck them to make them disappear. Once training was over, the two ponies, now good friends, having bonded through training, were sitting on one of the remaining clouds. "So, then the shipmaster said "We will burn their mongrel hides." and we engaged the fleet," said the Arbiter, telling Dash about his adventure on the Ark. "Oh don't forget to tell her about how we stayed up and fought the fleet, while you and the chief went on a vacation to the desert down below." added Johnson's voice from below them, surprising the two pegasi.

Arbiter reflexively struck a hoof in the voice's direction, which unfortunately for him, was directly below the cloud he and Dash were sitting on. The force behind the strike caused the cloud to break up, and sent the two of them tumbling to the ground. The cloud was fairly low to the ground, not giving the pegasi any time to open their wings before they hit the ground. The impact caused the Arbiter to tightly shut his eyes, and once he had stopped rolling down the slight hill they had been above he opened his eyes. The sight he saw caused them to widen. When the two pegasi had fallen from the cloud, they had somehow managed to get tangled up in each other's legs. But what surprised the arbiter most, was that when they had stooped rolling, Dash had ended up above him, she facing down, him facing up, Dash's eyes were still closed, and her lips were tightly pressed to his. "Ok, this is just a coincidence," thought the Arbiter, "Dash is just unconscious or something she-" The Arbiter's train of thought was destroyed as he felt a certain mare's tongue push though his lips. "Well, I'll just give you two some privacy," said Johnson, standing near them, "Of course I can't let the others miss this," he added, producing a recorder on a tripod. After he set it up, he asked, "Filis, are you receiving this?" "Yes," came Filis's reply from the camera. "Set the camera to highest quality, holo recording, and save this to the base memory crystal." "Affirmative." Johnson slowly trotted away, chuckling, "If we ever make it home, I'm definitely going to send this to my friend Tucker over in Valhalla".

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><p>Meanwhile, in town:<p>

"Ok, so finally we have the town hall." said Rarity, pointing a hoof at the structure. John nodded, mentally taking note of the structures position. For the last half hour, Rarity had taken Cortana and John on a tour around Ponyville, John taking note the location of each structure, and making a mental map of the town. Johnson had started off with them, but had soon left, saying he had to do something important. "Well, we better check up on Twilight," said Rarity, "Hopefully, she hasn't lost herself in a book again." she added with a slight chuckle.

As the three approached the library, they saw an argument unfold between Twilight, and a light blue unicorn. "The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that Twilight Sparkle engage her in a rematch." the light blue unicorn was stating. "I'm a little busy right now, Trixie," said Twilight, gritting her teeth. "I don't have time for your silly games." "This is no game Twilight." huffed Trixie. "Excuse me, Twilight, is this unicorn bothering you?" asked John, reaching the two. "Who dares interrupt the great and powerful Trixie!" exclaimed Trixie. Twilight rolled her eyes, and said, "Yeah, I'm trying to get Trixie here to leave, but she won't go. She's upset that I beat her at vanquishing an Ursa Minor, and wants to challenge me to a duel."

John turned towards Trixie and said, "Unicorn, Leave Twilight Sparkle alone." "Excuse me, but who are you to tell the Great and Powerful Trixie what to do?" replied Trixie. "I am John, Spartan 117, Master Chief petty officer first class." he replied. "What an interesting name, but you still have no power over Trixie you fool." John narrowed his eyes, and stated slowly, and carefully, "This unicorn is now a high priority individual, under the protection of the UNSC. I am now authorized to use any means I see fit to protect her, and dispose of any inconveniences to her. Right now, you are definitely an inconvenience, if not to her, then to me."

"So, you think you can take on the great and powerful Trixie?" asked Trixie. "Umm, John," interrupted Twilight, "Rainbow told me that you didn't have any spells. How are you going to fight her?" "A unicorn without spells?" exclaimed Trixie, "How pitiful can you get?" "I accept your challenge Trixie," said John, "You shall use your magic to fight, but I shall use my hooves." "Good." said Trixie, trotting off and motioning for John to follow her. Seeing Twilight's worried look, John said," Don't worry Twilight, I have some magic of my own." before trotting to catch up with Trixie.

"He doesn't stand a chance." murmured Twilight. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," said Cortana, overhearing Twilight, and walking up next to her, "He's a Spartan, so that make him more than a match for a unicorn, even without any magic. Granted I have no idea about the extents of the different magical spells, so I may be wrong." "How would him being a Spartan have anything to do with this? What is a Spartan anyway?" asked Twilight. "Come on Twilight, we should follow them. I'll tell you on the way." said Cortana, beginning to follow the two. Twilight trotted to catch, by Cortana's side. "Let me tell you a story, Twilight," sighed Cortana, her face becoming weary, "I'll tell you about something that is considered by some to be one of humanity's greatest crimes, and exactly what it means to be a Spartan."

* * *

><p>At the Firebase:<p>

"Alert! Slipspace Rupture detected, attempting to scan emergence signature. Failed. Recommend immediate alert status." piped up Filis, her voice echoing throughout the empty firebase, "Umm, hello, anyone there? Well that's just perfect," she grumbled, "Whenever I have something important to say, no one ever listens to me." Turning back to the video feed she was monitoring and saving, she sighed and said, "I guess I'll just go back to watching the Arbiter and Rainbow Dash making out. The other's will figure it out sooner or later."


	10. Buck it Let's go

Hey there *cough* everypony, *cough*

I'm *wheeze* sorta back.

Okay, I know that this chapter isn't the most well written, but I am sick with Celestia knows what, right now, and I wrote this at 11:00 pm on the night Halo CE anniversary edition comes out. (insert flutteryay here)

Also, I looked at michael blackburn's stories, and saw that he is already to his third story by now. So, I decided to take a leaf from his book, and not worry so much about spelling, grammar, and smooth plot development.

From now on, I'll type, then spell check and post, then fix grammar errors later.

Also, I now have a sort of update schedule planned out. I'll update MLH whenever I feel like it, or, when someone subscribes to me on YouTube. :P

There is actually a chapter before this, so that's why the plot seems broken.

I am also thinking of writing a final fantasy MLP crossover. I've never played the game, so it should be interesting.

Finally, due to rushing, I probably will put less commentary, and type out of character.

P.S.: Next chapter is going to have a lot of combat in it, so could someone give me a few tips on how to write that sort of stuff.

p.s.s: The chapter that should go before this, has some...intimate, scenes between rainbow dash and Arbiter, do you guys think I should scrap that, or keep it?

p.s.s.s: at the risk of sounding like a jerk, does anyone here actually watch my LP? because I'm thinking of starting to record in character as Shadowlight, and it would be helpful to know if anyone watching actually understands what the buck I'm talking about.

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Buck it, lets go<strong>

Aboard a Covenant capitol ship, orbiting Equestria.

"Cloaking fields at maximum commander," squeaked Yip Yip, saluting the chieftain.

"Good," he growled, "Are you sure this is the origin of the distress signal?"

"Yes sir, we have scanned the surface for inhabitants, and they appear to be colorful equines."

"What?"

"Yes sir, despite possessing hooves, they appear to have created a fairly primitive civilization."

"Hmm, anything we need to worry about?"

"Not much at first glance sir, except we have observed a sub species we named unicorns performing telekinetic feats, and another sub species, pegasi, manipulating clouds like solid objects, and providing a sort of weather control for the planet."

"Interesting"

"That's not all sir, we analyzed the energy emissions coming from them, and well, you better take a look at this." said Yip Yip, handing the chieftain a holopad. The chieftain's eyes widened as he read the report. "This can't be right," he said.

"It gets worse sir, we ran a deep scan on the planet, and look at these results." said Yip Yip, handing a second holopad to the chieftain. One look at the image on the screen, and the chieftain almost fainted. "By the Prophets!" exclaimed the chieftain. Turning to Yip Yip, he ordered, "Launch all pods and drop ships, tell them to set their landing zone for there," he pointed to a small town near where the heretic's ship had crashed, "If the demon survived, he'll be there. If he's not, then I'll have some new heads to mount on my wall." With a quick salute, Yip Yip hurried off to issue the commands.

Ten minutes later, 343 dropships sped to the surface, each pilot eager to get the first kill.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile:<p>

"Now the great and powerful Trixie will defeat you pathetic excuse for a unicorn," said Trixie, firing off another lightning bolt at the chief.

The chief dodged again, but this time Trixie expected it, and shot a lighting bolt to intercept him.

The bolt struck, but instead of pain, the chief felt an odd tingling sensation all over his body.

"What the?" he murmured, then jumped in surprise as his heads up display sprang to life in front of his eyes, and armor diagnostics began to scroll across his sight. He heard a familiar hum, and say his body shimmer, as the shield bar filled up. " My armor fused with me?" he exclaimed, bewildered.

"I wonder if my armor coming online has any significance", he wondered.

Right then, a covenant drop pod crashed to the ground, five feet away.

"Dammit, I just had to open my mouth." he grumbled.


	11. Pull My Dongle

Hey everypony, another update.

Okay, I know that the scene at the end with RD and Arbiter is a little strange, but I promise i won't go stranger than that. (well, at least for this book.)

Initially, I had planned to extend that scene a bit, but when I thought about it, it seemed a little too much.

If you are wondering why the hunters aren't ponies, I would say that it was because they couldn't carry their shields and cannons, but in reality it was because a pony shaped hunter looks way too creepy, considering the fact that the armor couldn't cover as much. (imagine an armor less hunter pony. yeah, creepy.)

Why are the hunters overpowered? well, I wanted to show that the covenant had been researching new technology during the time that MC was asleep, and had upgraded their equipment. Don't expect too many changes, The covenant aren't so powerful that all their troops are 20% more badass than before.

I originally planned to extend this chapter way farther, but I got too tired, so no cliffhanger this chapter.

I may be adding more swearing as the covenant begin to invade, so be warned.

Also, I had MC run away, because: 1. No sane person would go up against that hunter unarmed, and 2. because, despite asking for tips, nopony has messaged me any tips on writing combat scenes. Seriously folks, If no one bothers to help me out here, I may end up having to have no direct combat scenes in the book. (Which is heresy considering this is a halo crossover.)

oh, I planned to have MC put in a joke about how it seemed that all the mythical forerunner skulls seemed to be put into those hunters. (reference to skull game modifiers.) but I couldn't find a good place for it.

Why did I choose pull my dongle as the title? (aside from being an RVB quote) I have no idea.

Well, I better start working on the next chapter.

p.s. Haven't seen the lates MLP episode yet, I banged my head against the wall too many times in the first 3 minutes that I had to go lie down.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Pull my dongle<strong>

"What in Equestria is that!" asked Twilight, cowering behind Cortana. "A Covenant drop pod," explained Master Chief, "It was only a matter of time before the Covenant tracked us here. You three get back, I'll take care of this." Twilight, Trixie, and Cortana scurried for safety behind a nearby boulder. "Okay," thought John, "Even though you're a pony, and unarmed, you can still do this. Your armor is back online. All there is in that pod are probably a couple of grunts. Easy pickings."

The drop pod door hissed and slid open, revealing two very angry Hunters. "Crap!" thought John, "You can still do this. Your armor can deflect a blow from one of their shields. Wait a second, where are their shields?" The two hunters stepping out of the pod, lacked the trademark shield on their left arm, instead there seemed to be some sort of lumpy device on their arm instead. Before John could speculate what it was, the two hunters grunted and the devices activated, creating a shimmering blade of plasma in the shape of the hunters' shields. "What the fuck!" John mentally screamed, while remaining calm and emotionless on the outside, "They have Energy Sword Shields! Oh come on, that's just not fair!"

"Umm, new plan girls", he said, slowly backing away from the hunters. "What?" asked Cortana. One of the hunters finished charging it's fuel rod cannon, and fired. However, instead of the usual fuel rod coming out, or even a stream of fuel rods, the hunter's cannon shot a purplish beam of light, which missed the ponies and struck a nearby house, melting it into glass. "Oh great, now they have glassing beams," thought John. To the girls, he looked at them, and yelled, "RUN!" before bolting away as fast as his augmented pony legs could carry him.

With Master Chief out of the picture, the hunters turned their attention to the girls cowering behind the rock. One of the hunters slashed it's shield at the rock, cutting it in half as if it were butter. "EEP!" squeaked Twilight, shutting her eyes and concentrating. A moment before one of the Hunters fired it's glassing beam again, Twilight's teleportation spell activated, teleporting the three ponies out of harm's way. The beam sliced through where the ponies were a second ago and impacted a flower bed. The beam completely vaporized the flowers, causing a nearby yellow-maned pink pony to faint.

The girls teleported back into existence near the edge of AJ's property. "What was that?" asked Twilight. "A Hunter," replied Cortana, "But it was differently equipped than any I've run into." "Well, I don't know about you ponies, but the great and powerful Trixie is going to go warm up before defeating these creatures." said Trixie, "I may take a while so don't wait for me." With that, Trixie dropped a smoke bomb, and galloped off.

"Is she always like that?" asked Cortana, watching Trixie's retreating figure. "Usually she's much worse," said Twilight. "How did you get ahead of me?" asked John, galloping up to the two. "I teleported us," replied Twilight, matter-of-factly. "How did you- never mind, we have to warn the others." said John. "Hey John, asked Cortana, Why did you run away? That was the first time I've ever seen you do that." "Oh, okay, if you want to go up against the hunter with an energy sword shield, and a fuckin glassing beam, be my guest." said John, "What did you think I was, stupid? To top that all of, I was completely unarmed, except for my hooves. There was nothing I could do, so I got the hell out of there."

"Could you please stop swearing," pleaded Twilight, "While we ponies have alternate forms for those words, we still know the originals. We just never say them, because there is too much concentrated hatred in those words for our psyche. We are a society built off of friendship and magic, we don't use those words." "Okaay, said John, "That was an unnecessary lecture. Anyway, Twilight, you go round up your friends, we'll meet by the firebase." "Okay," said Twilight and teleported away. "Okay, let's move out Cortana," said John, and began galloping for the base, Cortana close behind.

After a minute, John abruptly halted, "Wait, do you hear that?" he asked, "Sounds like moaning, we better go check it out." After slowly sneaking towards the sounds, John finally made visual contact. What John saw topped his list of strange things he had seen, even going above the grunt who wanted to polish his helmet. John saw the Arbiter and Rainbow Dash, lying together on a cloud floating just above ground level, locked in a tight embrace. The two of them appeared to be fervently making out, Dash moaning every now and then.

A flash of light appeared behind John and Cortana, and the turned around to see Twilight standing with the rest of her friends. "Oh, there you are", Twilight said, "You weren't at the firebase, so we decided to look for you, I couldn't find Rainbow Dash thou-" Twilight had walked up next to John and saw Rainbow and Arbiter, her jaw dropping open. The other girls came up to see what was going on, and imitated Twilight's reaction upon seeing the two. Deciding enough was enough, John loudly cleared his throat, causing Rainbow and Arbiter to stop and look up. Upon seeing the other ponies, Rainbow's face paled. "Umm, hi," she said, while rubbing the back of her neck with one hoof," Look, It's not what you think! Well, it probably is what you think, but the thing is, I, he, umm." A long pause followed. "Awkward," whispered Cortana.


	12. Dancing Time!

Hi everypony,

Soooo tired. Want to sleep but must type.

Luna and I are currently waiting for John and co. outside the firebase, after the brutes raided our home.

Yes, Luna is back to her sweet and normal self.

Sorry I haven't been writing, (or for the one of you that watches my LP, recording) but finals start this week, and I'm really busy.

Also, I got Skyrim.

Ok, well for this chapter I wanted to write something, but didn't have a good idea for how to advance the storyline.

I added the scene with myself and Luna, because the chapter seemed really short, and I couldn't think of anything else off of the top of my head. I didn't want you ponies to wait who knows how long before I started typing again.

When in doubt, use RvB. I'm planning on having maybe the next two chapters be more random stuff until I can figure out what the storyline is actually going to be from here on.

For the next chapter, I'm planning on recreating the RC warthog scene from season two, but on a larger scale. Guess which vehicle will be controlled?

Ok, well, I'm going to nap until the others get here.

p.s. If the layout is kinda wierd, it's because fanfiction refused to upload the file, or actually any file I tried. I had to copy and paste the story to another already uploaded one. Sorry for any mistakes.

p.s.s. RvB reference count : 6

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Dancing Time!<strong>

"Ok," said John, "While the current situation is not totally ironic, different aspects of this situation are, and when combined, create a partially ironic situation. Is everyone happy? Good, any questions?" "I have one," said Cortana, "How in Equestria did we get on this topic?" "I don't know, but I found the part where Twilight got pantsed in the Canterlot University to be especially hilarious," said Johnson."

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Twilight, "I don't wear any pants you idiot! Besides, that doesn't even seem physically possible!" "Exactly! It makes perfect sense!" said Johnson. "No it doesn't!" yelled Twilight. "Oh you're just covering your flank Twilight." said Johnson. "No, I think you're covering your flank," replied Twilight. "Quiet you two," said John, "Twilight is not covering her flank, and Johnson is definitely not covering his. No one's flank is being covered."

"QUIET!" yelled Cortana, causing everypony to stop bickering and pay attention to her. "Thank you. Now let's stop this meaningless debate, and get over to the base, where we'll be safe from further covenant attacks. Then you can continue bickering." The others agreed and headed for the firebase. As they trotted along, Johnson remarked to Cortana, "I don't know what came over me. I usually am not like that. It was as if someone else was controlling my actions." Cortana shrugged and the both promptly forgot about the remark.

* * *

><p>- Meanwhile, in a small house in Ponyville -<p>

"What in Equestria am I writing?" muttered Shadowlight as he sat groggily in front of his laptop. "You know what; I'm just going to keep that. Too lazy to re-type m-ust sl-eep..." Quiet snores filled the room, as Shadowlight nodded off to sleep. However, two brutes had just picked his house randomly to raid. "You are dead pony!" growled one brute as he tore the door off of its hinges. The splintering of wood caused Shadowlight to jolt awake. "Oh shisno!" he exclaimed, seeing the two brutes. He grabbed the laptop and bolted for the back door, yelling, "Luna! We need to get out of here. Now!" "Right behind you," said the dark blue alicorn, appearing right next to Shadowlight. "Quick," yelled Shadowlight, as the two galloped in the direction of sweet apple acres, "We need to get to da choppa! I mean the firebase."

As the two ponies galloped away, the two brutes stood inside the house dumbstruck. "Did that pony just talk?" asked one. "Did that pony just say get to da choppa?" asked the other. "We better tell this to the chieftain", said the first. The two brutes turned to leave, but were surprised when they saw a white alicorn female with a rainbow mane standing in the entrance way.

"Hello my faithful subjects," she said, giving them an alluring smile, "Would you please obey your princess and cease this meaningless violence." "The Jiralhannae are not your slaves pony!" growled the first brute. "Jiralhannae are you?" asked the alicorn. Her horn lit up, and both brutes were momentarily blinded by a bright light, which then dimmed and disappeared.

"The Jiralhannae are not intimidated by your pathetic little tricks pony," said the second brute, "You should surrender and tell our chieftain everything you know, or we will enjoy ripping you to shreds little pony." "But you are not Jiralhannae are you?" said the alicorn. "What do you mean beast?" asked the first brute. "Look at yourselves," she replied. The brutes looked themselves over and were horrified to discover that they had been transformed into two brown, mane-less ponies. "What have you done to us!" exclaimed the first brute, its voice noticeably higher and less threatening. The alicorn smiled, but this time her smile stretched all the way across her face.

"Problem?" she asked, and vanished in a burst of light.


	13. The Janitor's Closet

Hey there everypony,

Okay, just so you know, I've been wanting to use this joke ever since i started the RDxArbiter shipping.

I seriously didn't want to involve myself in the storyline too much, but after the brutes destroyed our house, there wasn't much of a choice.

I still don't know how they got in though. I didn't mean to write that part. Actually, I have no memory of writing it. I'll need to check into that. The last thing you want on a reality bending laptop is a virus.

Oh, by the way, my cutie mark here, is different than in odd one out. to put it simply, the wormhole quill is writer me's cutie mark, story me's cutie mark is completely different.

In case you haven't figured it out,(shame on you if you haven't) Selene is Luna. She's in disguise, because if the ponies found out who she is, it would mess up the story and cause a dimensional rift. and nopony wants that to happen.

Hmm..what else...Oh! The next chapter will probably be an out of continuity christmas special. (the RC scarab may be after, but I'm not sure.)

anyway, I better shut up now and let you read the chapter.

p.s.: Nuclear Dawn is the best game ever!

p.s.s.:I got fallout 1 and 2, and I'm sad at poor performance. Darn you stupid flickering black screen!

p.s.s.: Dancing Time!

p.s.s.s.: If you don't get the title, watch RVB season 3, episode 1. where Simmons talks about the teleporter nexus.

p.s.s.s.s.:hmm. chapter 13, unlucky 13. Does that mean theat there will be no next chapter. Dun dun duh. who knows...who knows.

p.s.s.s.s.s.:I'm deciding whether or not to bring the RVB cast into the story next book, or this book.

p.p.p.p.p..s.: I'm different.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13:The Janitor's Closet<strong>

"Come on, we're almost there." said John, looking back at the others. "We know," replied Cortana, "We all know where the firebase is, why do you keep calling out the distance?" "Oh, I thought that... never mind," said John. Emerging into the clearing, he could see the location where the firebase was, but was surprised to see two ponies standing beside it. "Hurry up, there's someone already here." he said to the others, before breaking into an augmented gallop, stopping right in front of the two new ponies.

Now that he had a closer look at them, he could make out their features. The one standing to the left was a male unicorn, with a jet black coat, brown eyes, and a light blue mane with a silver streak running through it. On the pony's flank was a picture of quill writing into what looked like a wormhole.

The other pony was a female unicorn, with a dark blue coat, blue eyes, and a darker blue mane. Her flank mark was a shooting star.

"Hi there," said the male unicorn, "You must be John, Master chief petty officer first class, Spartan 117, correct?" John's mouth fell open, and he slowly nodded. "Good," the unicorn said, "My name is Shadowlight, and this is Selene. It's a pleasure making your acquaintance." He held out a hoof, which John, still in a half daze, shook. The other ponies trotted up, and immediately introduced themselves to Shadowlight and Selene.

"Hey, awesome Cutie Mark," said Pinkie, looking at Shadowlight's flank mark. "Cutie What-now?" asked John, confused. "Cutie mark," explained Pinkie, "It's a mark that appears on a ponies flank when they find out what make them special, usually what they're good at." "Well then mine makes sense," said John, "The forerunners kept calling me Reclaimer, so I guess that's my talent, reclaiming." "I thought your special talent was blowing up Forerunner technology." said Cortana. "How about yours Arbiter?" asked John.

"I am saddened that my talent is a lack of honor," said Arbiter, "The fact that the mark of shame still remains is a shame to myself and my family." "But that's not your Cutie Mark," said Pinkie. "What?" exclaimed the Arbiter. "Yeah, it's just a scar, yours is underneath but I can't make it out." said Pinkie. "Well, there you go my friend," said John, "There is hope for you after all. How about yours Johnson?"

"I think mine is pretty straightforward," said Johnson, "I have the U.N.S.C. symbol on my flank, which means my talent is being green to the core, and kicking flank." Johnson then gave a decisive chomp on his cigar. "Okay," said John, "Hey, Cortana. Why don't you have one?" "I think I know why," said Cortana, sadly, "I've stolen so much data, that I'm not really whole anymore. I'm just stolen thoughts and memories. I'm guessing since there are so many different parts of me, that I don't really have a single special talent."

"Umm, I hate to interrupt, but can we go inside, where the Covenant can't find us, now?" asked Shadowlight. As if to prove his point, a brute roared in the distance. "Good idea," said John, approaching the firebase, causing it to appear and unlock. The ponies entered the control center, where they were greeted by Fillis. "Oh good, you finally showed up," she said, "Let me guess, you finally noticed the Covenant?" "No need to be so snippy Fillis," said Johnson, "We don't exactly have radios." "I see, my bad then," replied Fillis, "Anyway, who are the new ponies?"

"This is Shadowlight and Selene," said John, "By the way he acted, I'm guessing that Shadowlight was the one who gave us the firebase, and now he wants to stay with us in order to keep away from the Covenant." "Exactly," said Shadowlight. "Ok, well add them to the allowed list Fillis," said John. Turning to Shadowlight, he said, "I guess you two could sleep in the extra bunks we have." "No need," said Shadowlight, trotting over to an inconspicuous control panel on a wall. Using his magic, he entered a code, and the wall slid back, revealing a door leading to a fully furnished bedroom.

"How did you do that?" asked Fillis, "Everything behind that door, plus the door, is on an isolated system, preventing me from accessing it. How did you get those codes?" "I made some modifications to the original base design, to make it more pony friendly. Cortana may have noticed that the pony height settings were already in the system." said Shadowlight, "Anyway, I added this room for myself in case I ever needed to move in. Speaking of which, did you bring the equipment Selene?" Selene nodded, and three suitcases appeared beside her, in a flash of magic. "Good, now I can continue my work, even though the brutes raided our house." said Shadowlight, levitating some wires and a laptop out of one of the suitcases and plugging them into some ports on the wall. "What kind of work are you doing," asked Twilight. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," said Shadowlight, "Only Selene and myself know about it, and we must keep it that way, I'm sorry."

"Oh, I just remembered something," said Fillis, getting their attention, "I need to do your medical scans." A green laser panned over everypony in the room. "Ok, vitals look good. Wait, where's Rainbowdash?" asked Fillis. "She said her stomach wasn't feeling good, so I directed her to the bathroom," said John. "Oh, good," said Fillis, "There's a scanner in there. Ok, let me see. Hmm... Ok, oh, wow." "What?" asked John. "Umm, I think Rainbow should hear this," replied Fillis.

"Why, is she dying?" asked Pinkie. "No, she's not dying," said Fillis, "She just..." "Has no chance to live?" "She is not in any danger of dying but she... Oh, here she is," said Fillis. "Uhhhhhhh..." groaned Rainbow, stumbling into the room, "What's going on everypony?"

"Congratulations Rainbow Dash," said Fillis, "You're pregnant."

* * *

><p>(Bowchickabowow!)<p> 


	14. Deck the Halls with Halo Rings  REMOVED

This chapter was a Bonus out of continuity chapter I removed.


	15. Memory

Hello there everpony, this is Shadowlight and definetly not Luna.

Shadowlight is right here, doing this commentary, and definitely not tied up in the corner of the room.

Yes, I am Shadowlight, and I wrote this chapter because I am strange and stuff.

Shadowlight: "Stop trying to impersonate me Luna, They'll never believe it."

Ignore that, it was nothing.

how do i turn off the voice recognition on this thing.

Yes, Luna is not doing this, because she feels offended, slightly, by one of the comments one of the reviewers made about her after the New years chapter. That would be absurd, because this is definitely not Luna.

Shadowlight: "You have to admit they were right though."

Silence, once I post this chapter, you'll have to follow the chain of events, or risk causing a paradox.

Shadowlight: "Whatever, I can still remedy it later. Now for Celestia's sake, UNTIE ME!"

Maybe later. First, I have something I want to do. Remember how I found out that your abilities can be triggered by acupuncture.

Shadowlight: "You wouldn't dare. Luna put those needles away. Get away from me!"

Now quit struggling, or I might make it permanent. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15:Memory<strong>

The chieftain was not having a good day.

First, two of his hunters locate a pony whose body gave of the same energy readings as the Demon's armor. That would have been a good thing, but the pair had not been able to prevent the demon from fleeing the area. Not only that, but the demon had managed to make an alliance with a few other ponies, who the hunters also failed to destroy. To top that off, none of his scouting parties could manage to find the demon, it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

But now, the Chieftain had received reports that two of his squads had been transformed into ponies. The radiation shielding on their dropship had failed during entry into the atmosphere and transforming everyone on board. Luckily the autopilot managed to bring the craft to a safe landing.

The Jiralhannae, had been transformed into muscular ponies with neither wings nor horn. Physical tests had shown a physical strength increase of approximately 200%.

The Kig-yar, had been transformed into unicorns but retained the Kig-yar's large red eyes. While they lacked any noticable telekinetic power beyond that required for aiming and firing their weapons, they were reportedly able to use their newfound powers to decrease their weight temporarily, resulting in a 90% agility increase.

The Yamnee, were by far the strangest in their transformation. They had been transformed into pegasus ponies, but instead of being covered in fur, they retained their carapace. While their new bodies improved their flight capabilities, making them perfect for recon, the chieftain thought they looked especially intimidating for the local populace in those new forms, and used them for terror tactics.

Finally, the Chieftain's two best captains had been transformed into ponies by what appeared to be the princess/leader of the ponies, according to propaganda posters around the village.

The chieftain heard a hiss, as the airlock cycled and Yip-Yip entered the command shuttle. "Status report!" barked the chieftain. Yip-yip snapped to attention, and squeaked, "All forces have received upgrades to their environmental shielding, as you ordered. In addition, the two brutes who encountered the princess, have fully mentally recovered sir. They were able to give us their full report on what happened prior to their transformation. Here is a data pad with their report." Yip-Yip handed a holopad to the Chieftain who carefully read the report, before remarking, "Hmm, this report states that one of the occupants was using human technology. Strange, we detected a small dimensional rift earlier, at this exact same spot. This pony could have some sort of connection to it. Tell the forces to capture this pony for questioning, on sight. But tell them not to actively search for him, he is only a target of opportunity." "Yes chieftain," said Yip-Yip, entering the airlock. "Oh, and Yip-Yip," said the Chieftain, stopping Yip-Yip in his tracks, "Tell the troops, that our priority target is now the princess." "With pleasure," replied Yip-Yip. He turned to leave, but stopped, and asked, "Chieftain, shouldn't we be focusing on getting past that door blocking our path to the energy reading?" "No, Yip-Yip." replied the Chieftain, "This place is a maze of locks and keys. We can't destroy the door. The door is a lock, and I'm willing to bet that she," the chieftain tapped a claw on the princess's picture, "is the key."

Meanwhile

"What!" exclaimed Rainbow dash, her mouth open in disbelief. "Are you sure about this," asked John. "Affirmative, replied Fillis, "My medical scanners indicate that Rainbow dash is bearing a child. A child that is developing at an abnormally fast rate I might add. Preliminary DNA analysis points the father to be the Arbiter."

"What!" exclaimed the Arbiter, "We only got together three hours ago." "Well, it appears that you'll be a father very soon Arbiter," said Fillis, "Now, Rainbow dash's pregnancy can cause some changes in her behavior, including; loss of balance," Rainbow Dash's front legs gave in, and she collapsed onto the ground, being caught at the last minute by Rarity, who helped Rainbow get back to her hooves. "Moodiness," Rainbow began yelling at Rarity that she wasn't helpless. "and vomiting." Rainbow dash stopped mid-rant, and vomited on Rarity, causing her to shriek, and gallop off towards where John had pointed out the restroom. "You waited until each of those symptoms was about to happen, before you told us, didn't you," asked John. "Maybe," replied Fillis, innocently.

"Ok, well standing here is not going to solve anything, Arbiter, get Rainbow Dash to the infirmary," said John. The Arbiter nodded, and helped Rainbow to the infirmary. "Ok, everypony else, we need a plan on how to stop the Covenant. Twilight, you said you could teach me telekinesis. Can you do it right now?" "Sure," said Twilight, "But we'll need some small, light, and sturdy objects to practice on." "I know where we can find some," said John, trotting off down a hallway, with Twilight following close behind. "Speaking of which," said Johnson, "I better finish putting together that pony armor I designed." with that, Johnson headed towards the armory.

The only ponies now remaining in the command center were Shadowlight, Selene, Fluttershy, AppleJack, and Pinkie Pie. "Well, I'm tired," said Shadowlight, stifling a yawn, "I think I'll go take a nap." "Mind if ah join ya?" asked Apple Jack, "My mind's been blown three times today, and I'm plum tuckered out." "By all means AJ, there's more than enough room," said Shadowlight, walking to his room, AJ following closely behind.

"I'm bored," said Pinkie, "Hey Fillis, is there anything fun to do around here?" "Well, have you ever played a video game Pinkie Pie?" asked Fillis. "No, but it sounds like fun! Can I try?" asked Pinkie. "Sure, I'll teach you," said Fillis, "There's a good video game called "Halo" I would like you to try. Come over to the large monitor." Pinkie trotted over to the monitor, and began to listen to Fillis's instructions.

"Hey Fluttershy, do you want to see something interesting?" asked Selene. "Umm, ok, if you would like me to," whispered Fluttershy. "Great! Hey Fillis, are you busy?" asked Selene. "Not really," said Fillis, "I'm currently using 8% of my processor power teaching Pinkie. Once we actually start playing Co-op, I'll devote, maybe 30%. What do you need?" "Could you play back the recording Johnson took earlier today?" asked Selene. "Wait, how do you even know about...you know what, never mind. I'll play it for you. Come over to these monitors over here."

Two hours later

"Hey everypony, Twilight taught me how to levitate things, and I...What is going on here?" asked John, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Pinkie Pie was playing Halo (That game the UNSC PR department came up with to increase revenue. ONI had a fit about them including the Flood, but they were assured that the public would never think of it as anything but a made up enemy), apparently playing through the Library on Co-op with Fillis. Luna and Fluttershy were doing something that John didn't want to think about, on the ground together, while a video of Arbiter's training session with Rainbow dash played in the background.

"Fillis, what is going on here?" asked John. "Oh, well, to sum it up really quick, according to my medical analysis, AJ and Fluttershy are now pregnant." answered Fillis.

"Well that figures," grumbled John. "Wait," he added, tilting his head in confusion, "Did you just say _Fluttershy _is pregnant!"


	16. All the right reasons

Hello Equestrian Wasteland!

oops, wrong crossover.

I'm back!I bet a lot of you are wondering what happened to me huh? (Unless you are a zombie, in which case you probably are wondering what my brains taste like.)

Well, it seems that somepony was messing with my computer, because when I was talking a walk in the everfree forest, a creeper jumped out of a bush and exploded next to me.

Needless to say, I didn't make it.

Then, by some clerical error, I got sent to the underworld. (Oh those clerks)

Anyway, it took Sergeant Johnson, John, and two squads of royal guards to get me out of there.

However, by the time they arrived, I had already seized control, turned the underworld into a resort, and was amassing a large demon army with which to overthrow Celestia.

The only reason I left was my sense of duty to you readers. (They definitely didn't knock me out and drag me back.)

I left some wierd psychopath in charge when I left. I don't think it'll cause any problems.

Anyway, I am really excited for tonight's release of my new favorite game series!Yup, thats right, your's truly has become a mass effect fan. I've already beaten the first two games last week, and am eagerly awaiting the third. Luckily for everypony, EA knows how to count to three! (Unlike Valve)

I really should stop blabbing and go back to killing more Collectors. See you all next chapter.

P.s.: Bring Legion along on Tali's loyalty mission to epicly troll the quarians.

P.s.s: Sorry about any typos. My laptop is freaking out, and I've uploaded this via my Ipad, which doesn't work very well with (it randomly drops out words) , and the app i use to type my stories doesn't have spellcheck. (Touchscreen keyboards also hate me.) Please PM me (no reviews, I can't clear those. They begin to clutter up) with any errors you may find. Thanks.

P.s.s.s: yes, I know MC outranks Johnson, my logic is that Johnson got promoted posthumously.

**Chapter 16: All the right reasons**

"Johnson, report to the control room on the double!" barked John over the intercom. "I'm coming, I'm coming," complained Johnson before John switched off the intercom. When Johnson finally arrived, he was told to sit down next to Shadowlight. "Alright," said John, pointing a hoof at Fluttershy, "One of the two of you has some explaining to do." "Hey don't look at me," said Johnson, "Fluttershy's not my type. She's too meek. Also, when did you start giving out orders? I outrank you." "Twilight taught me how to use magic," stated John. "So what?" asked Johnson. John levitated a shotgun out of the duffel bag, and pointed it at Johnson. "I have the ability to fight, and you don't, which makes you a noncom," said John. His posture, however, implied "I have floating shotgun, your argument is invalid."

"I wouldn't dream of ever hurting Fluttershy like that," interjected Shadowlight, hoping to divert John's attention, "This whole thing doesn't make sense. Who would impregnate Fluttershy? Unless... Oh great." "What?" asked John, turning on him, "Do you know who did it?" "Maybe," said Shadowlight, "One second." He then trotted off in the direction of the base's AI core. Soon, Fillis' voice could be heard saying things like, "Ouch!","Put that panel back right now!", "Watch it!", and "That is not an approved operation". After a minute or so, Shadowlight emerged from the room, the hairs on his mane, coat, and tail standing on end. "Are you okay?" asked John. "I'm fine," said Shadowlight, beginning to walk over to John and Johnson, "Just a little static." As Shadowlight passed a computer monitor however, a large bolt of electricity arced from his body to the monitor, and destroyed it. "Whoops, sorry," apologized Shadowlight, "Just a little static discharge. My bad." "Are you sure you shouldn't go to the infirmary?" insisted John. "I'm telling you I'm fine," protested Shadowlight, "60,000 volts never hurt anypony." "Uh huh," said John, not convinced, "Well at least discharge yourself before you do anymore damage." "Fine," said Shadowlight walking over to a metal rod labeled "Lightning rod attachment" and clamping down on it with his mouth.

The resulting energy bolts shooting from atop the base's lightning rod, fried three phantom dropships, two squads of grunts, and a random partridge in some pear tree.

"There, you happy?" asked Shadowlight, once the electrical surges had subsided and his coat had straightened itself out. "Yes," replied John, "Now, about Fluttershy's pregnancy?"

"Oh, right," said Shadowlight, walking up to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy and Applejack aren't pregnant, Fillis lied." Fluttershy let out a barely audible sigh of relief and asked, "But why would Fillis lie? She seemed like such a nice, umm...thing." "I was hacked! It wasn't my fault, I would never lie to any of you regularly," protested Fillis, her hologram crying virtual tears and sounding hurt. "Cut the act Fillis," retorted John, "You were copied from Cortana, who has the most advanced intrusion and anti-intrusion suites available. You couldn't have been hacked unless you let it happen." Fillis' hologram stopped crying and became silent. "Who hacked her?" asked John. "From what I can tell, a grunt infiltrated the base, while we were talking about Rainbowdash's pregnancy, and hacked Fillis in order to hurt Fluttershy."

"Those Covenant Bastards!" exclaimed Johnson, "How dare they hurt Fluttershy in such a way! To war men, er...Ponies! We fight for Fluttershy's dignity!" "I don't know about all that dignity stuff, but I'm tired of hiding in here," added John, "Count me in. Time to kick some Covenant flank." "Wait for us," the Arbiter, and the girls cried out. "Arbiter! Rainbow! You're back on your feet!" exclaimed John. "Yeah, Rainbow Dash had her baby, but we just put it in a stasis pod until we knew what to do with it." replied Arbiter. "Well, that was anticlimactic," said Johnson, "But forget that. CHARGE!" All the ponies except for Selene and Shadowlight charged towards the exit lift.

"Oh brony," groaned Shadowlight, covering his face with a hoof, "This is not going to end well."


	17. Nightfall

Hey there readers, I'm going to drop a quick chapter before finals, just because I've been silent for so long.

I have so much to say about this chapter (which I recommend you read before the commentary) so I'm going to not commentate in character this time.

Ah, where to start on this chapter? Probably about how buckin hard it was for me to make.

I'm not kidding here, for some reason, this chapter gave me horrible writers block. The writing process was basically; write a few paragraphs, wait a few weeks, stare at the page and repeat. The ending however, took me a whole month to think of.

Something you also should know, is that I originally planned to end the chapter with the reveal of the ships. I only decided to add the grimdark part on the last night of editing.

I still am not sure why I decided to have the story take a dark turn, (probably because I watched Schindler's list and read "Night" in school) but I feel that it actually fits the covenant better.

Before now, the Covenant haven't really been much of a threat. They were there to fight, but they really weren't doing much to actually be a good antagonist. The idea that they bomb ponyville, fits with the Halo lore's interpretation of them.

You probably are all wondering about what happens with Shadowlight at the end.

The way I had been portraying Shadowlight so far, made me feel that I was making him a bit too flat, only using him for comic relief.

In reality, Shadowlight is meant to be a fairly complex and dynamic character. His mental breakdown is actually more fitting of his intended character design. Shadowlight's past, (before ponification) was filled with hardships at Sector Delta. Unfortunately, since I can't get enough creative steam going for odd one out, I won't be able to explore that past more than what I have touched on already.

The "Resonance Cascade" ws actually a way to reduce Shadowlight's power; from controlling reality, down to just a regular unicorn. I'm still keeping most of his already introduced spells, as well as his abilities.

This change came about when one of my friends was talking about how overpowered Shadowlight was. While I initially disagreed with him, I saw his point later on. Since I am planning on having Shadowlight be the main character for some of my planned future crossovers, I really needed to bring him down to size. However, I didn't want to remove his powerful spells completely, thus I came up with a system that I can't quite tell you about yet.

However, while I said that you are wondering about Shadowlight, I'm pretty sure you're wondering about Selene/Luna instead.

Yes, as many of you no doubt have guessed, there will be ShadowlightxSelene shipping.

I originally started writing the grimdark part of the scene, envisioning Selene as becoming a sort of motherly figure for Shadowlight, comforting him in the trials ahead.

While I did have Shadowlight seem carefree, he does deeply care about others, and takes it as a personal failure on his part if someone is hurt due to circumastances that he had a chance to prevent. I think I completely messed their character personalities up during the new years special, because Selene was supposed to become Shadowlight's voice of reason.

Ok, this commentary turned out way longer than I expected.

P.s. possibly more explanatory commentary coming up next chapter.

p.s.s: I've started a forum for you guys to ask me questions in. I really would prefer it if you used this instead of the review section.

the link is: www .fanfiction net/forum/Palpatine213-Author-QA/119765/

remove the spaces and add the period before net

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: Nightfall<p>

"Alright, everypony ready?" asked John, taking up cover position in front of Apple jack's barn and inserting a new clip into his assault rifle. "I've got you covered Chief," replied Johnson, settling into his sniper post. When the ponies had rushed out to fight the covenant, they had stopped at the armory to gear up, allowing Johnson to slip into his custom built pony marine armor. John had no idea how he had done it, but Johnson had converted a standard issue suit of marine armor, into pony form, and added some useful upgrades. The armor had a reflective sublayer, like John's, allowing it to handle plasma shots better. Johnson has also installed an exoskeleton that, while increasing his combat speed and buck force, still was a low enough power for Johnson to safely use. The most notable add-on however, was a belt fed, motorized sniper rifle mount on the back of the armor. The rifle was linked to a video feed in Johnson's helmet and was remotely controlled by a mouthpiece. When Johnson bit or tilted the mouthpiece in a certain way, it would cause the rifle to execute an action, such as fire or zoom.

The Arbiter had decided to equip himself with four hoof mounted energy swords. Cortana had, with some experimentation, managed to unlock a combat spell, which allowed her to launch blades of energy at a target. Twilight and Rarity, both opted to use battle rifles, pointing out that they had better control over their levitation and could fire precision shots. Rainbowdash had also opted to try out hoof mounted energy swords, and was currently doing practice attack runs on a scarecrow. Pinkie pie, had decided to use a shotgun, and was actually managing to hold it in her hooves, walking upright like a regular soldier. Fluttershy and Applejack, currently had second thoughts about fighting, and were bunkered down near the ammo and medical cache, ready to transport supplies if needed.

"Covenant forces inbound," warned Fillis, over their earpieces. "I see those little buggers," confirmed Johnson, zooming in with his sniper. "Alright everypony," said John, "Any moment now, the Covenant are going to charge over that hill, yelling "Attack!", but we will not let them past us. We will hold the line!"

**Earlier:**

"Retreat!" screamed Yip-Yip, running for his life. The covenant forces were in disarray, explosions seeming to come out of nowhere, and killing squads of grunts and jackals. As the smoke cleared from the latest attack, Yip-Yip finally was able to see the attacker, a very angry white bunny, wielding two fuel rod guns, and firing another volley at Yip-Yip's troops.

Scrambling through the debris still raining down on the camp, Yip-Yip reached the communicator, and connected to the third wraith division. "Hey, it's commander Yip-Yip here," he said, "There's a bunny over here decimating the first attack squad. Yes, I realize that bunnies are usually harmless to our military, but this one is dual wielding fuel rod cannons. Oh come on, we're surrounded by colorful talking ponies, and some of our forces became ponies. Are you really doubting that a bunny can fire a fuel rod gun, I mean... " Yip-Yip was interrupted by a Hunter's wail of pain. His eyes widened as he took in the horror of what he saw, relaying it to the wraiths in shock. "The..the bunny just tore off a hunter's cannon arm. Now he's shooting it with it's own cannon. Oh prophets! The bunny is feeding the eels to some birds! You better get me some mortar fire to these coordinates ASAP," he yelled, blindly firing in the direction of the bunny.

A few moments later, the sound of wraith mortars could be heard whistling through the air. Yip-Yip looked up and grinned as he saw two shining blue orbs sail towards the bunny's position. Unfortunately, the bunny noticed the mortars too and bolted in the direction of a barn. "After that bunny, troops!" ordered Yip-Yip, giving chase.

**UNSC:**

"Angel!" exclaimed Fluttershy upon seeing the bunny. She lept up and began to gallop towards him. "Fluttershy, Wait!" yelled John, cauing Fluttershy trip over her hooves, "He could be working for the Covenant." "What! My sweet Angel bunny would never do anything like that!" protested Fluttershy, walking back toward John. "He's holding a fuel rod gun." pointed out John. "Oh please," interrupted Johnson, "Like you've never used a fuel rod gun Chief?" "I have," replied John, "But that was usually if I ran out of rockets or ammo for any other sort of powerful weapon. Personally, I prefer not to use the fuel rod gun. It's damage is laughable compared to a rocket launcher, and the only use I find for it is to knock over vehicles. It's just a glorified plasma pistol. Besides, have you felt the recoil on it? Unless it was specially made for a bunny, it would just snap Angel's arms off. If it was specially made for bunnies, it would just confirm that Angel was working with the Covenant."

John and Johnson then proceeded to argue over the technical specifications of fuel rod guns, while Fluttershy and Angel watched, none of them noticed the wraith mortar sailing towards Angel until it was too late.  
>The mortar impacted the ground with an earth shaking crash. Fluttershy shrieked as the force of the explosion lifted her up and tossed her back towards the other ponies. She hit the ground with a thump, and was knocked unconscious.<br>**Covenant:**

"Yes!" cheered Yip-Yip, pumping his claw in victory,"We killed the omega bunny! Come on troops, let's go see if a body remains." Yip-Yip then began to joyfully skip in the direction of the barn.

**UNSC:**

"Covie forces advancing," warned Johnson, "I can see them clearly now, there appears to be 60 grunts, 40 jackals, 30 brutes, 10 ghosts, 6 hunters, 3 wraiths, and a banshee in an apple tree." "Very funny Johnson," replied John. "I'm serious Chief, take a look," said Johnson, sending John a screenshot. True to Johnson's word, a banshee had somehow managed to get stuck in the branches of one of AJ's apple trees, it's pilot having already abandoned the craft. "Hold on, I miscounted," said Johnson. he then steadied himself, focused on the video scope, and bit down on the control bit in his mouth. The sniper rifle on his back fired one round which tore through the brains of two brutes. "I'm sorry, I meant 28 brutes," said Johnson, barely suppressing a grin.

**Covenant:**

"Sniper! Get down!" screamed Yip-Yip, throwing himself into a hole as his troops began to scatter, finding hiding places for themselves. Yip Yip noticed the brute that had taken cover in the same hole as him was placing something at the top of the hole. Yip-Yip scolded himself for his stupidity once he realized what it was for, and ordered over the radio, "All troops, deploy covers." every single brute under his command then pulled out it's deployable cover and set it up in the open, moving from their hiding spots to behind the barriers.

Yip-Yip loved the new barriers. Their shield generators were heavily armored, protecting them from all weapons fire except high explosives, the shields generated were at least 30 times stronger than the previous model, there was a one button two second easy deployment, and the shields lasted hours now instead of minutes. He pulled out a viewer and zoomed in on the ponies that were attacking them. Six of the ponies were completely new to him, but four of them seemed strangely familiar, especially that green one. The way it moved, the accuracy of it's attacks, those cold eyes, that color... Yip-Yip gasped as he realized who this pony was. He quickly activated his communicator and broadcast to all Covenant forces. "This is Commander Yip-Yip, I have located the Demon, transmitting coordinates. The Demon has become a pony, I repeat, the Demon has become a pony. Requesting backup."  
>Swithching channels, he ordered his troops to attack the demon's position. He then contacted the wraiths, and gave them firing coordinates for the UNSC position.<p>

**UNSC:**

"Hey Chief, those wraiths back there seem to be lining up for a shot at us." reported Johnson. John turned to Twilight and said, "Twilight, please tell me that you can create physical barriers with your magic." "Yes, I can make a forcefield with it," replied Twilight, "But why do you ask?" "See those wraiths back there, the big blue things?" asked John, "They are what caused that mortar that killed the bunny. If they hit us, we're going to suffer the same fate. What I need you to do, is create a barrier over us, to intercept the mortars it will launch at us." "Okay," said Twilight, but I can't maintain it very long if they are going to hit with significant force." "In that case, I just need you to create small barriers to place in the mortars' paths," said John, "They simply heed to hit something solid in order to detonate, and if they're detonating high above us, we should be safe." "Ok, that's much easier," said Twilight, bringing up a barrier to intercept the first mortar.

As the battle raged on, Twilight sat in the trenches and frantically shifted her barriers to intercept incoming Wraith fire. Rainbow dash and the Arbiter periodically made air raids on the covenant forces, swooping down and using their energy hoof-swords to slice any Covenant forces not fast enough to get out of their way. At one point, Rainbow dash whispered something to the Arbiter, and both of them flew away from the battlefield. John was about to call them back, but was interrupted when Rarity began to complain about the heat from the battle rifle messing up her mane. Eventually, John was able to get her to calm down, and refocused on the battle.

A few minutes later, John heard an explosion, and the sky was lit up in a rainbow of colors. He looked up just in time to see Rainbow dash streak across the sky, carrying the Arbiter, towards the Covenant lines. As they approached the front, Rainbow dash released him, sending the Arbiter streaking down at an angle towards the Covenant. When the Arbiter's fall brought him to grunt head height, he opened his wings, stopping his descent, bet keeping the same forward momentum. Raising his hoof blades in front of him, the Arbiter impacted the Covenant front lines like a searing javelin, tearing through an entire line of jackals and ending with him tearing through, and destroying, a wraith tank.

"How many did I hit?" asked the Arbiter, flying back up to where Rainbow was waiting. "You destroyed that wraith thing, about 20 of those little guys, 15 of the bird things, and 8 of the monkey things." said Rainbow dash, feeling a little proud that she was able to count the kills so quickly. "The little guys are called grunts, the bird things Jackals, and the monkey creatures are called Brutes," said the Arbiter, "I thought I told you this already." "Yeah, but I wasn't really paying attention before, sorry," apologized Rainbow dash. "No problem. Want to try that maneuver again?" asked Arbiter. "Hay yeah I do!" responded Rainbow. The two pegasi then flew back over to where they started the maneuver.

John continued to fire on the Covenant. Suddenly, a flash of white light illuminated the world, momentarily blinding all. John felt as if a strong wind was blowing, tearing at his very being, but he remained motionless. As he reached up with a hoof to shield his eyes, he noticed dark shapes moving behind the clouds above the battlefield. John switched on his radio and said, "Arbiter, Rainbow, I need you back here on the double." "Yes Spartan," said Arbiter, flying back to the battlefield with Rainbow dash.

"I need you to clear those clouds," said John when they arrived. The two pegasi nodded, then the Arbiter grabbed Rainbow and swung her around in a circle for a bit, before throwing her towards the clouds. The momentum of the swing allowed Rainbow dash to quickly perform a Sonic Rainboom, clearing the clouds away and revealing...  
>... Hundreds of covenant dropships.<p>

"Oh crap," said John.

"Oh Yeah!" cheered Yip yip, looking up at the reinforcements that had appeared.

"Umm, can we put the clouds back?" asked Cortana.

As the ponies watched in silent horror, a covenant carrier moved above the battlefield, blocking the sun and covering all of Equestria in shadow.

As the carrier slowed to a halt, the area grew darker, turning day into night.

Squadrons of banshees made bombing runs on the town of Ponyville, lighting the village up in a fire that could be seen from miles away.

The hums and whines of the covenant aircraft was drowned out by the screams of ponies as they burned from the fires or were pierced by plasma fire.

That night, Ponyville's beautiful river ran red with the blood of countless ponies, as the troops stood frozen, the fires of hope in there hearts growing dim.

Back at the bunker, Shadowlight was awoken from his slumber by the screams. "What's going on?" he asked, walking towards a monitor. His eyes widened, as he saw the covenant ships and ponyville burning. "No, No, No!" he cried, galloping towards his laptop. Switching it on, he booted up the dimensional interface, and cried out in horror as multiple error messages filled the screen. He collapsed on the floor, sobbing and crying, "No! This wasn't the way it was meant to be! Why?"

Selene rushed into the room, hearing Shadowlight's cries. Having seen the devastation, she instantly realized what had happened.

She lay down next to Shadowlight, and rested her head on his. "Hey, It's okay Shadow, you can fix this."  
>"No I can't!" cried Shadowlight, burying his head in Selene's mane, "I can't. I could have stopped this earlier, but I didn't. It's too late now."<p>

"Hey, look at me," said Selene, using her hooves to raise Shadowlight's head so he was looking at her.  
>"We are going to fix this," she said, "Together we can overcome any obstacle."<p>

Shadowlight slowly nodded, then said, "Thank you Luna. Actually I've been wanting to tell you something for a long time. The thing is, that I well, love you. But I know it would never work, I mean you're a princess and I'm just a-"

Shadowlight was silenced by Luna who said, "Please Shadow, call me Selene. I love you too, I've just never been able to express it untill now, It's why I tease you so much. But now, I don't want anything to come between us. Please view me not as a princess, but as Selene, a fellow pony." said Selene, kissing Shadowlight's forehead. Shadowlight softly kissed Selene's neck in return.

"Sleep now little Shadow, whispered Selene as Shadowlight's tear-stained eyes closed and the two curled up together on the floor.

On Shadowlight's computer, one phrase was flashing on the monitor ; "Danger: Resonance cascade in progress."


End file.
